Legal News

Sotomayor Gets Support of Locals at Confirmation Hearings

By Brian Harris

By Gina Passarella
Of the Legal Staff
 

Confirmation hearings next week for U.S. Supreme Court hopeful Judge Sonia Sotomayor will include the support of a few locals.

While there are no local ties to the witnesses testifying against Sotomayor on behalf of the Republicans, she has two local supporters on the Democrats list of those called to testify on her behalf.

Temple University?s Beasley School of Law Dean JoAnne Epps will be testifying in support of Sotomayor in Epps? capacity as the co-chairwoman of the National Association of Women Lawyer?s (NAWL) committee for the evaluation of Supreme Court nominees. Also on the Democrats? witness list is DuPont?s Ramona E. Romero who is testifying in her role as president of the Hispanic National Bar Association.

The timing worked out well for Epps who is just finishing up the first of a three-year term on the evaluation committee. Justice David Souter?s announcement that he was retiring meant Epps could put her involvement with the committee to use.

While Epps can?t discuss what she will say at the hearings -- a decision made by NAWL?s board -- NAWL?s committee issued its rating of Sotomayor earlier this week, finding the 2nd Circuit judge ?highly qualified? for the position of associate justice.

?The committee concluded that Judge Sotomayor consistently has displayed a superior intellectual capacity and a comprehensive understanding of the issues with which she was presented,? the committee said in a statement. ?Her ability to analyze statutory and case law was found to be excellent and her judicial reasoning sound.?

Epps has never testified before Congress and the ability to do so, she said, is exciting and an honor. NAWL requested the opportunity to speak on Sotomayor?s behalf and the Democrats accepted.

?It?s really an honor to represent an organization in such an important matter,? she said. ?I feel like its part of service to the country.?

Epps has to submit prepared remarks to the Senate Judiciary Committee by Wednesday and expects her turn under the lights to come at some point Thursday. She said she can speak from her prepared statement and beyond and could face questioning. Epps said she isn?t sure whether there will be contention among the committee members and will have a better idea of that after watching the first few days of the hearings. She said there is a wide range of opinions being solicited.

On the Democrats? side, they include the opinions of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau (Sotomayor?s former boss), former MLB pitcher David Cone (Sotomayor helped end the baseball strike in 1995), and former FBI director Michael Freeh.

The Republican witnesses include the Center for Equal Opportunity President Linda Chavez, Federal Commission on Civil Rights Commissioner Peter Kirsanow, former NRA President Sandy Froman, Frank Ricci (the firefighter who received a win in his discrimination case when the Supreme Court recently overturned a lower court ruling by Sotomayor) and Charmaine Yoest of Americans United for Life. 

Romero wasn?t available for comment Friday. The confirmation hearings begin Monday morning.

Full post as published by The Legal Intelligencer Blog on July 10, 2009 (boomark / email).