Leahy: "Unbelievable" Sotomayor Attacks Demand Earlier Hearing (VIDEO)
WASHINGTON — AP The Senate's top Democrat praised federal judge Sonia Sotomayor Tuesday as an extraordinarily well-qualified Supreme Court nominee whose background as an "underdog" appeals to Americans.
"We have the whole package here," said Sen. Harry Reid, seated beside Sotomayor before the two met in his Capitol office. He called her life story "compelling."
"America identifies with the underdog, and you've been an underdog many times in your life, but always the top dog," Reid, D-Nev., said of Sotomayor, the New York-born daughter of Puerto Rican parents who would be the first Hispanic and the third woman on the high court.
Citing her Princeton and Yale education and long experience as a lawyer and judge, Reid said: "We could not have anyone better qualified."
The visit was the start of a daylong schedule of meet-and-greets with Republicans and Democrats designed to let senators get to know President Barack Obama's nominee before they debate confirming her.
Sotomayor was also meeting with the top Republican, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and leaders of the Judiciary Committee, Chairman Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., and senior GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama.
Leahy, who plans to meet Wednesday with Sessions on a schedule for the hearings, said he's eager to give Sotomayor the chance to respond to "unbelievable attacks" by Republican critics like radio host Rush Limbaugh and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who have branded her a racist because of remarks she made in 2001 that her experiences as a "wise Latina" would allow her to make better decisions than a white male.
"Ultimately and completely, a judge has to follow the law no matter what their upbringing has been," the Vermont Democrat quoted President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee in a private meeting the two had on Capitol Hill.
Leahy had asked Sotomayor, 54, what she meant when she said in 2001 that her decisions as a "wise Latina" would be better than those of a white male. Prominent Republicans have cited the 2001 remark to call her a racist.
Leahy said the judge told him: "Of course one's life experience shapes who you are, but ... as a judge, you follow the law."
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Leahy called the criticism against Sotomayor "among the most vicious attacks that have been received by anybody," and lamented that as a nominee she's unable to directly answer them.
"I know how difficult it is for somebody who is nominated," he said. "They can't answer charges. They can't speak out. But they're a nominee. It's different than those that run for elected office and we're in a debate a day."
So he asked the judge whether he could repeat publicly what she told him privately about how her personal experiences -- she is the New York-born daughter of Puerto Rican parents who was reared in a Bronx housing project and went on to Princeton and Yale on her way to the highest echelons of the legal profession -- would shape her rulings.
Leahy quoted Sotomayor as saying, "There's not one law for one race or another; there's not one law for one color or another; there's not one for rich and one for poor; there's only one law."
Leahy is pushing for a swift series of hearings on Sotomayor's confirmation, and has said the harshly worded criticism of her necessitates a quick timetable.
"Because the defacto leader of the Republican Party equated her to the head of the Ku Klux Klan pretty well demands that she have a hearing earlier than later," Leahy told reporters on his way to meet with Sotomayor. He's planning to meet Wednesday with Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the top Judiciary Committee Republican, to discuss the schedule.
Radio host Rush Limbaugh and former House Speaker New Gingrich have both branded Sotomayor a racist, and Limbaugh went on to compare choosing her for the high court to nominating former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.
Leahy defended Sotomayor on Tuesday, saying he was proud of his own Irish-Italian background and his wife's French-Canadian background. "Does that make us racist?" he said. "She is not a racist."
He declined to discuss with reporters what he planned to ask the judge during their one-on-one session. Despite the serious subject matter, the visit began with a jovial scene captured by dozens of news photographers in which the two chatted about Leahy's grandchildren.
Sessions, who has said that he doesn't want to rush the nomination, responded that he doesn't "it would be irresponsible" to wait until September to hold a hearing. "I would urge the Chairman to keep an open mind on that," he told reporters. "We'll talk, I think, tomorrow."
Sotomayor was scheduled to meet with 10 senators during her first day on Capitol Hill, retreating to Vice President Joe Biden's office between sessions to huddle with the White House team, heavy with confirmation battle veterans, that's guiding her nomination.
Among those she was to see Tuesday were Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, members of the Judiciary Committee. Rounding out her schedule was lunch with her home state Democratic senators, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, her unofficial chaperone during the confirmation process, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.
Feinstein said she would ask Sotomayor about the "wise Latina" comment, which she said had been "made into something egregious." She said she also wants to discuss important constitutional topics including abortion, a hot-button issue on which Sotomayor's views are not known .
"I'll ask her how she views the constitutional right to privacy," Feinstein said, adding that she "might" inquire about Sotomayor's position on the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established a woman's right to end her pregnancy.
Sessions was asked if he queried Sotomayor on the "wise Latina" remark. "No," he responded. "We talked about the idea and the concept of personal feelings, to some degree, you know, how that influences a decision and how it should not ... we talked about it briefly and did not go into that in a lot of detail. I did tell her that, You know, i do think that we may well talk again. So we might get into more specific details. But I frankly haven't had the opportunity to study her record enough to fairly ask a lot."
Senate aides in both parties are preparing for Sotomayor's voluminous response to a 10-page questionnaire the Judiciary panel sent her last week _ an extensive survey of her life, public statements, rulings and political activities _ which will add copious detail to a so-far broad debate over her fitness and qualifications for the Supreme Court.
Barring a huge surprise, she is expected to be confirmed. Democrats control 59 seats in the Senate, where a majority vote is needed for confirmation, and another seven Republicans previously voted to confirm Sotomayor for a lower court.
Sotomayor, 54, would replace retiring Justice David Souter.
Obama wants the Senate to confirm Sotomayor before its August vacation. The White House formally started the clock on Monday, sending her nomination to the Senate.
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Associated Press Writers Ann Sanner and Laurie Kellman contributed to this report.
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First Posted: 06- 2-09 12:43 PM | Updated: 06- 3-09 12:15 PM