By Garance Franke-Ruta
The Senate Judiciary Committee has set a date for the start of nomination hearings on Judge Sonia Sotomayor to be associate justice of the Supreme Court: July 13.
In selecting this date I am trying to be fair to all concerned said Judiciary Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) in a statement. I want to be fair to the nominee and allow her the earliest possible opportunity to respond to the attacks made about her character.
It is not fair for her critics to be calling her racist without allowing her the opportunity to respond he continued in an apparent reference to widely covered -- and later retracted -- remarks by former House speaker Newt Gingrich calling Sotomayor a racist on Twitter. I do not want to see this historic nomination of Sonia Sotomayor treated unfairly or less fairly than the Senate treated the nomination of John Roberts.
A quick hearing is something Republicans had hoped to avoid with Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.) the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee saying he thought late summer hearings would be preferable. I dont think that this should be rushed he said late last month. I dont believe we can do this before August.
Leahy appealed to precedent in making his announcement. This is a schedule that tracks the process the Senate followed by bipartisan agreement in considering President Bushs nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme Court in 2005 Leahy said in a statement on the Senate floor. ....If 48 days were sufficient to prepare for that hearing in accordance with our agreement and the initial schedule it is certainly adequate time to prepare for the confirmation hearing for Judge Sotomayor.
