The home-state senators, Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), left, and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) had lunch today with Judge Sonia Sotomayor, making her rounds of the Senate as she seeks confirmation for the Supreme Court. Photos above and below, of Sotomayor, by Alex Wong / Getty Images )
by Mark Silva
One week into the nation's introduction to Judge Sonia Sotomayor, a majority of Americans surveyed say they approve of her confirmation for the Supreme Court.
Slightly more than half -- 54 percent -- say they would like to see the Senate confirm the president's first nominee for the nation's highest court, according to the results of a Gallup Poll conducted Friday through Sunday. Just 28 percent of those surveyed said they oppose Sotomayor's confirmation, and 19 percent hadn't decided.
This is similar to the level of support that Gallup initially found for previous Supreme Court nominees who were confirmed by the Senate, including Justices Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Samuel Alito, Gallup says. Americans showed slightly more support for Chief Justice John Roberts' appointment.
"Initial public support has been a good barometer of the public's eventual judgment of the nominees,'' Gallup's Jeffrey Jones reports. "The percentage favoring a nominee's confirmation generally has not varied much in either direction from the time of nomination to the time of confirmation.''
Sotomayor, a member of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York who has served for 18 years on federal benches, was making her first rounds of Capitol Hill today for her upcoming Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who met with Sotomayor, said the Senate will take its time with the proceedings -- and that there is plenty of it before the court's fall session.
President Barack Obama wants his nominee ready for that Oct. 1 session.
Public opinion is skewed along party lines.
A majority of Republicans surveyed, 57 percent, oppose Sotomayor's nomination. A slim majority of independents and a solid majority of Democrats favor it.
Most Americans surveyed say they are following news about the Sotomayor nomination closely -- 60 percent -- including 20 percent following it very closely.
"To date, much of the news focus has been on the historic importance of the nomination of potentially the first Hispanic and the third female justice, and on controversial remarks Sotomayor has made during public speeches,'' Gallup notes.
"In a speech at Duke University in 2005, Sotomayor asserted that most public policy is made in the courts, and in a speech before a Latino group at the University of California at Berkeley in 2001, she implied that a female Hispanic judge would make better decisions on cases than a white male judge.''
Some Republican commentators, notably radio's Rush Limbaugh and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, have suggested that are comments are disqualifiers. Others -- most notably the Senate's Republican leaders -- have been more cautious about casting judgment on a nominee with strong legal credentials and historical significance.
"So far, despite the news about (Sotomayor's) statements, Americans do not view Sotomayor as an extreme nominee,'' Gallup notes "Just 28 percent believe she would be 'too liberal' as a Supreme Court justice,'' while 48 percent view her as "about right'' and 49 percent say they believe that Sotomayor's views are "in the mainstream.''
"The historical data also suggest that Americans' first impressions generally predict the ultimate Senate vote -- the two nominees who did not garner majority support from Americans on their initial reading did not wind up as Supreme Court justices,'' Gallup's Jones notes of Robert Bork and Harriet Miers. "All those who were favored by a majority were confirmed, regardless of the specifics of their confirmation processes.''
The results come from a survey of 1,015 adults conducted May 29-31, with a possible margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Comments
I'm sure the Republican party leadership will use the Sotomayor nomination to raise a boatload of cash. Their direct mailers will scare the money right out of the wallets of the little right-wing minions.
I love watching the Republican party and their "leadership" wringing their hands over why they aren't in the majority while once again alienating the Latino vote by attacking a Latina who is eminently qualified for this position.
Everytime a right-winger feigns outrage, I smile a little more. It's amusing how Wingnuts are only outraged when it isn't something that benefits them.
The more vehemently the Wingnuts attack her the more likely they will only get 20% of the vote while losing Arizona and possibly Texas in the 2012 election. Pretty soon all the GOP will have left is Alabama and Mississippi - yeehaw!
Posted by: Mick Hendrix | June 2, 2009 3:25 PM
That's right Mick...we are the wingnuts and knuckle draggers because we believe that babies have the right to be born and breath the air that god intended them to....you "progressives" would rather have the babies killed(.even minutes before they are born)...We also believe that skin color should not matter ..apparently something you liberals have never understood. But some how you manage to insult us!
Everybody who defends abortion rights....has already been born. How convenient for them.
Posted by: Joe | June 2, 2009 4:12 PM
That's right Mick...we are the wingnuts and knuckle draggers because we believe that babies have the right to be born and breath the air that god intended them to....you "progressives"
Posted by: Joe | June 2, 2009 4:12 PM
>>>>>>>>>
Really Joey?,
Actually it's you Wingnutter clowns who kill people and blow stuff up when you don't get your way.
.
http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/anti-choice-violence-skyrockets-democra
"Pro Life".....my arse!
Posted by: Elephant Herder | June 2, 2009 5:12 PM
I hope as they say she will get the seat. As far as abortion is concerned, when I was a kid and it was illegal those who had money got them anyway at the doctor. They were called a D and C. Those who did not have the money, visited the guy in the back alley who would take care of it. It's been going on forever one way or another.
Posted by: lochnessmonster | June 2, 2009 5:47 PM
Everybody who defends abortion rights....has already been born. How convenient for them.
Posted by: Joe | June 2, 2009 4:12 PM
.
It’s really hard to support the pro-life movement when you’ve got people in the same party (Republican) always trying to figure out new and improved ways to keep poor people out of emergency rooms. I don’t know anyone who is a “fan” of abortions. But I’ve seen enough of you Republican teabaggers parading around with big “Save the Babies!” poster signs to know that you don’t give a flying frack about babies after they’ve exited the uterus.
“What’s that, kid? You’re done being born now? Well, then you’re on your own now. Here, have a bible. Just hope Jebus likes you.”
Posted by: Elisha | June 2, 2009 5:55 PM
I can't say that I'm shocked by these boneheaded Republicans and their demonizing of Spanish-speaking immigrants. This tactic of blatant, shameless racists calling OTHER people and groups racist because they believe that someone other than rich, straight, white men should get ahead just makes the GOPer's look worse than they already do.
Posted by: Maria M | June 2, 2009 6:56 PM
Unless one is delusional, Sotomayer is a racist, pure & simple, as are all members of the treasonous La Raza by definition- since their motto is “For our race everything- for others, nothing”.
Her record is nothing to shout about either, and frankly -if you’ve heard her speak- she’s not what you’d call a towering intellectual.
Eric Holder has some racial hangups and agenda too, calling us “cowards” regarding racial issues and letting-off Black Panthers who stood in front of a polling place with nightsticks.
And Obama himself has shown us a puzzling pro-Kenyan grudge against the British and has said some pretty odd things, even regarding his own grandmother… plus he's the one who nominated all these kooks in the first place.
Whatever happened to the idea of a colorblind society? Team Obama define their world in racial terms all the time- and unlike any white people I know. I wouldn't want to be judged by any of them after what I’ve heard come out of their own mouths- they sound like Jesse Jackson.
If Obama is going to go on with his "justice" agenda largely based upon race- the double standards need to stop… and NOW
http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Reaganite Republican Resistance | June 3, 2009 7:28 AM
Unless one is delusional, Sotomayer is a racist, pure & simple,
Posted by: Reaganite Republican Resistance | June 3, 2009 7:28 AM
Coming from the party who claim support from 89% white and only 11% minority, this statement seems par for the course.
Posted by: bill r. | June 3, 2009 8:38 AM
Posted by: Reaganite Republican Resistance | June 3, 2009 7:28 AM
What an utter pack of lies.
National Council of La Raza does not have the motto you state. It's simply not true.
http://www.nclr.org/content/viewpoints/detail/42500/
One thing is clear. You are a liar, pure and simple. You are delusional as well.
Posted by: Martinez | June 3, 2009 9:23 AM
Here's a poll Mr. Silva and other Democrats won't cite, for reasons we all know. The poll pertains to the Ricci case now before the Supreme Court, where Judge Sotomayor upheld a New Haven's refusal to promote white firefighters due to their skin color.
"American voters say 55 – 36 percent that affirmative action should be abolished, and disagree 71 – 19 percent with Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayer’s ruling in the New Haven firefighters’ case, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. More than 70 percent of voters say diversity is not a good enough reason to give minorities preferential treatment in competition for government or private sector jobs, the independent Quinnipiac University survey of more than 3,000 voters finds."
Silva often cites the Quinnipiac Poll, but not this time.
Posted by: Bruce | June 3, 2009 10:17 AM
Here's a fact that the partisan political hack Bruce doesn't want you to know: on Ricci, Sotomayor was part of a three judge panel that came to the unanimous decision. It was not soley her decision. The other two judges on the panel were white.
Posted by: Lou | June 3, 2009 11:52 AM
Everybody who defends abortion rights....has already been born. How convenient for them.
Posted by: Joe | June 2, 2009 4:12 PM
Yes Joe, babies with their brains growing outside of their skulls must be born and then put on life support. If we could perform brain transplants, you could donate yours-since you aren't using it.
Posted by: anotherwhinywingnut | June 3, 2009 12:57 PM
"... on Ricci, Sotomayor was part of a three judge panel that came to the unanimous decision. It was not soley her decision. The other two judges on the panel were white.
Posted by: Lou"
Like Judge Sotomayor, "Lou" thinks racial discrimination is ok so long as the skin color being discriminated against is white.
Perhaps, "Lou," after you've learned to spell simple words such as "solely", you'll read the stinging dissent on the Sotomayor case by her 2nd Circuit colleague Judge Jose Cabranas. Judge Cabranas is like Sotomayor both Hispanic and a Clinton appointee.
Posted by: Bruce | June 3, 2009 7:28 PM
"Bruce", First off, nothing I wrote defended the decision of the three judge panel or discrimination. Secondly, I'm always happy to point out the facts you prefer to hide.
Posted by: Lou | June 3, 2009 11:46 PM