Leahy To GOP: "Stop The Racial Politics" On Sotomayor

The two top officials on the Senate Judiciary Committee left niceties at the door when they held a joint appearance on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday.

Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) accused the Republican Party of playing "racial politics" with the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Sonia Sotomayor, even declaring that the leaders of the GOP had called her a "bigot" and the "head of the KKK."

"I have no idea how many [Republican votes] she'll get in committee or on the floor," said Leahy. "But she will have Republican votes... She deserves it. Now, I understand [Sen.] Mitch McConnell and I've worked with Sen. McConnell on different things. But like the other leaders of the Republican Party, he came out very, very early against her and he doesn't want to change his mind. You had one leader of the Republican Party call her the equivalent of the head of the Ku Klux Klan. Another leader of the Republican Party called her a bigot. To Sen. McConnell's credit, he has not used those things, but the leadership of the Republican Party came out against her long before we ever had the hearing, long before they had a chance to look at her record. I think that's unfair."

"I hope we don't go back to the day when we used to put African Americans up for confirmation and say yes, but you belong to the NAACP so we're really suspicious of you," Leahy added later, refering to Republican concerns about Sotomayor's involvement with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund. "Come on, stop the racial politics," he said.

Leahy later explained that he was referring to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich when he accused the GOP of labeling Sotomayor a bigot.

It was a fiery segment, during which Leahy talked over the protests of his colleague Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the committee's ranking Republican member. When the Alabama Republican finally got the chance to speak, he pleaded that Leahy had greatly distorted the tone and tenor of the hearings.

"Pat, I want to correct something," Sessions said. "No Republican leader said she was a bigot. You've overstated that. There's nothing wrong with us asking about her personal views about positions, legal positions that she took as a member of any organization. That's a normal thing to do. And I don't think that was unfair. She said that she thought she was fairly treated. Other commentators, objective leaders, civil rights leaders have said that. We gave our absolute best to make sure this was a fair hearing, but it had to be vigorous. We had to ask about things that people cared about, her speeches, her prior pleadings that she did and some of her decisions, which are troubling. But Pat, you gave us a fair hearing. I appreciate that. A lot of people felt we were pretty tight on time, but you -- when the hearing came up, we had an opportunity. And I appreciate that."

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Comments

[Aylah95]

So they can degrade Sotomayor by pretending she sat through Ivy League school reading See Spot Run on a free ride because of her race but Democrats were wrong for questioning the capabilities of a beauty queen who partied through 5 schools and couldn't name anything she had read or a Supreme Court case?

Bizzaro World at its best.

[DoTheMath]

If Mr. Sessions really doesn't think it was racist and sexist to browbeat Judge Sotomayor for days with the "concern" that she might let her feelings interfere with her decisions, despite having ample opportunity to read her decisions himself, he's much too clueless to be a senator. If he ever thought that "concern" was valid, he should have caught on after his cohort, Mr. Graham, after days of insinuating that the judge could not be trusted to set aside her feelings, whined about how Frank Ricci deserved "his chance to tell the American people about how he FELT about being denied his promotion.­" Just in case you still don't get it, Mr. Sessions, let me enlighten you. The belief that feelings matter only if the person with the feelings is white is racist.

[brandnewstuff]

The best words I heard from a friend Ambrose.. The Supreme Court needs to be comprised half men and half women... WOW talk about equity in JUDGING... What a GREAT IDEA... I LOVE IT

[GoldenAgeMaster]

Why would that be a good idea?

[kagenin]

An unbalanced judiciary makes for an unbalanced society.

Our Supreme Court should be, in essence, a microcosm of the makeup of the nation they preside over.

[johnr49]

The fact that you're even asking that question say it all.

[JMBrodie]

The reactions here are encouraging. I wish I could say the same for what I read at other sites.

I am reminded that during Reconstruction there were more African Americans in Congress than there are today. I pray we are not head for a second Post-Recun­struction. The level of venom gives me pause.

[JMBrodie]

Post-Recon­struction.­....

my bad

[RJII]

I pray we're not too. But, I just don't what is what these days. I think it means change for the better.

[RJII]

one rich good old boy politician tells another rich good old boy politician to come on now, enough with the racial slurs for three weeks.
I guess, they can discuss that modest request i the back nine at the Congressional country club on the Potomac.

[GoldenAgeMaster]

Hear,hear!

I don't give a rats rear-end if the politician is a Democrat or a Republican, only about 1% of them can be trusted. And there are just as many raclsts in each party.

[cbat]

Project much.

[omobob]

"Sessions said. "No Republican leader said she was a bigot. ". No they called her a "racist".

[swimbiker]

He was trying to fool people when he said "Republican Leader." What he meant was "Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are not Republican leaders when we want to run away from their bigoted statements, but they are when we agree with them.

[RobinSeattle]

The GOP needs to watch who it calls extremist:
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/gop-government-county-2497738-one-libertarians

Yes folks, the GOP base is now officially at war with its libertarian faction.

Salient quote:

"One of the Republicans actually blamed libertarians for the GOP's defeat, as if we're the ones who had spent the last eight years abusing presidential and congressional powers. Like totalitarians, they invited us to renounce our "extremism," make a public apology and join their cause to limit government, which is akin to a drunk calling on members of Alcoholics Anonymous to join him at the bar if they really want to fight alcoholism­."

[edsel]

That's absurd, I thought she was a democrat not a republican

[zeezan]

Huh?

[Pleneras]

Comment means the charge of KKK and Bigot... only republicans are those things.

[Budokan]

No, 'Pugs, don't listen to him. Fear and hate is the way to win elections, everyone knows that. The only reason you lost last time is you weren't MEAN enough. Just let your inner tantrum child out and the American people will respond in 2012.

And then we can sweep you out the back door, once and for all, with all the other political detritus that you represent.

[dillydawg]

They are stirring the pot of racial devisiveness however, the flames are being provided by M$M and Conservative radio. No, not just FoxNews.

[Mecheng]

Leahy is a total hypocrite. Look at the way he treated Miguel Estrada.

[drlouise]

Leahy is one of the mosty ethical, honest, decent lawmakers we have. He is not a hypocrite.

[dillydawg]

Totally agree. Highly respectable human being.

[jones]

He sure is and he's relentless­... I was scared of him when I was a teenager growing up in Burlington, VT. He was a tough old guy even then too.

[whatthel]

Totally agree.

[Pleneras]

I completely agree! He's well respected.

[dct1999]

When did Leahy refer to Estrada as a racist? Your post makes no sense.

[mexamerican]

it's not supposed to make sense. th.ugs just throw lies out and see what sticks. for th.ugs, if enough mo.ro.ns believe it, it's "true."

[dillydawg]

You can't make sense out of nonsense. Why even try?

[bodo]

It boggles the mind of every historian how the party of Lincoln that freed the slaves has morphed into a bunch of racists. However, the Hillary Clinton campaign has demonstrated that racism is alive and well among Democrats as well, especially in the rural areas.

[dillydawg]

Disturbing, but very true.

[gbee]

Sadly, true. But Dems don't usually exploit those biases as campaign tactics - Hillary's campaign was an exception, and it cost her. We've all got our prejudices, but not all of us revel in them - we try to overcome them. The modern republican party has no support left among those with "better angels," so they MUST now appeal to the base they have left in order to survive.

[AntiSheep13]

Every Historian?
"If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that." - A.Lincoln-
"I am not now, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way the social or political equality of the white and black races. I am not now nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor of intermarriages with white people. There is a physical difference between the white and the black races which will forever forbid the two races living together on social or political equality. There must be a position of superior and inferior, and I am in favor of assigning the superior position to the white man." - A.Lincoln in his speech to Charleston, Illinois, 1858 And there is plenty more.

[Mister Wu]

Unless she smokes pot, then what's the problem?

[Coltrane1234]

Huh?

[Nomccain]

Every time a Republican opens his or her mouth lately, they're cutting their own throat. They're actually showing their true colors for a change for the whole nation to see.

[Hopeington]

Finally, truth from the Repub party. They confirm what we knew all along.

[Skiwee]

You can say that again, and the Family on C Street just goes to show how far and vast that prejudice runs......­..veerryyy­yy scary!!!

[mitsie]

Southern white men, that's all that's left after the senator from N.H. retires.

[Pansey]

Yup.......­..they're all hiking the Applachian Trail.....­.I'm just saying....

[soundping]

The all white GOP club handing over the keys to Sotomayor???