The Senate Judiciary Committee has settled on the lineup of witnesses for Judge Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court confirmation hearing. And quite a list it is.
The Democrats are calling some big political names like New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, some tough-on-crime names like former FBI Director Louis Freeh, some ivory tower names like Yale Law School's Kate Stith and some quasi-celebrity names like former baseball pitcher David Cone.
All told, the Democrats are summoning 15 witnesses. Among those potentially worth waiting around for: legendary prosecutor, and former Sotomayor boss, Robert Morgenthau. Morgenthau turns 90 this year.
The Republicans are calling 14 witnesses of their own, representing the likes of the National Rifle Association and Americans United for Life. The most promising witness so far, though, may be Lt. Ben Vargas of the New Haven Fire Department. This is well-played -- a real fireman, from well outside the Beltway, speaking about the human consequences of Sotomayor's ruling in the New Haven firefighter case.
*Sotomayor's* ruling? You mean the ruling of a 3-judge appellate panel (which would've been upheld except the Supreme Court by a 5-4 vote decided to change the relevant legal standard).
And it's *well played* for the Republicans to focus on human consequences? They've already said judges aren't supposed to have empathy. I'd call it hypocritical.
Posted by: Sandra Day | July 09, 2009 at 05:23 PM