Leahy’s in charge for the first time in a Supreme Court confirmation

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(Host) Senator Patrick Leahy is playing a critical role in the Senate’s review of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

Leahy is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. And the hearings mark the first time that Leahy has been in charge of the panel as it considers a Supreme Court nomination.

VPR’s Bob Kinzel reports.

(Leahy) "This is, as we all know, the confirmation hearing, the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to be a justice of the United States Supreme Court. Judge Sotomayor, welcome to the Senate Judiciary Committee."

(Kinzel) With those words, Senator Patrick Leahy opened the confirmation hearing for Judge Sotomayor.

The Senate Judiciary Committee room has very high ceilings and dark wood paneling and it was packed as the hearing got under way.

Leahy says he’s chaired hundreds of judicial nomination hearings, but this hearing marks the first time he’s been in charge of the committee for the confirmation of a U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

Minutes before the hearing began, Leahy compared his role in this process to that of a judge at a trial.

(Leahy) "I want to make sure the hearings are fair to everybody. I want it to be fair to both the Republican and Democratic senators, being sure they can ask their questions. But I want it to be fair to Judge Sotomayor and fair to the United States Senate and fair to the American people. And I think you can do all of that."

(Kinzel) And Leahy says he has made it very clear to both Republican and Democratic members of the committee that he won’t tolerate political grandstanding during this process.

(Leahy) "We’re not there to make points with pressure groups. There are some special interest pressure groups that want to send out fund raising letters based on the hearings. Well, we’re not doing a telethon for a pressure group. We’re doing a nomination hearing for the American people and for the Supreme Court."

(Kinzel) Leahy says he believes Sotomayor will be confirmed if she articulates her independent and impartial judicial philosophy.

(Leahy) "I like to think of a judge as somebody when you walk in the courtroom, it doesn’t make a difference who you are – plaintiff or defendant or anything else – that person will give you a fair hearing. And I believe that’s the sort of person she’ll be. And we’ll see in the hearing if she comes across that way, that it makes no difference who you are, you’re going to be given a fair hearing. Then she should be confirmed."

(Kinzel) Leahy says he hopes that the full Senate will vote on the nomination before its August recess.

For VPR News, I’m Bob Kinzel in Montpelier

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