3:35 p.m. – Leahy calls a 10-minute break. Liveblogging will resume after the break in a new post.
3:30 p.m. – Sotomayor repeats her earlier excuse re her “wise Latina woman” comment — that she was making a “rhetorical riff” (earlier, she said “rhetorical flourish”) that was echoing a statement by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Again, her implication is that the fact that she was riffing on O’Connor excuses her making what is really an outrageous statement — that she hoped a wise Latina woman would come to a better decision than a white male who dd not have the same experience.
3:28 p.m. – As Sotomayor responds, Kyl says, “I think you just contradicted your speech.” Because, he says, she did say in her speech that gender should make a difference in judging, whereas now she is trying to say that was not what she meant.
3:23 p.m. – Sotomayor argues in defense of her “Latina Judge’s Voice” speech that “diversity on the bench is good for America.” Kyl says, “That’s the key. … The question, though, is whether you lead them [listeners to her speech] to believe that it’s good to make different decisions because of your ethnicity or gender.”
3:16 p.m. – Kyl quotes Sotomayor’s lecture “A Latina Judge’s Voice,” in which she said “there is no objective stance … no neutrality” in judging. Says “it is relativism run amuck.” How true! For more on that lecture — including a link to its full text — and other writings of Judge Sotomayor, see AUL’s Sotomayor411.com.
3:05 p.m. – Kyl is pressing Sotomayor on issues related to the Maloney case.
3:02 p.m. – Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) begins his questioning.
2:57 p.m. – Feingold brings up the empathy question, saying he agrees with President Obama on the importance of that quality. Asks her how she can empathize with residents of small towns, since she is from NYC. As AUL President & CEO Charmaine Yoest wrote in her NPR op-ed, it’s a issue that’s off-point with regard to how a nominee would judge.
2:50 p.m. – Feingold asks, after the Supreme Court’s Heller decision, doesn’t it seem almost inevitable that the high court will find the Second Amendment as it applies to the states to be “fundamental”? Sotomayor demurs, saying she doesn’t want to comment on a case that might come up.
2:39 p.m. – Feingold asks if there are any elements of the government’s response to 9/11 that we may regret in 60 years. Sotomayor gives a vague answer. Feingold goes on to ask her about Patriot Act cases. She clearly does not want to be pressed on this issue.
2:32 p.m. – Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) begins his questioning.
2:26 p.m. – Sotomayor, in answer to a question about Entergy Corp. v. Riverkeeper: “Ultimately the task of the court is to give deference to what Congress wants.”
2:15 p.m. – Sotomayor answers Grassley’s question on the Didden property-rights case. She says “Mr. Didden didn’t” — and stops herself for a moment as though she’d hit a tongue-twister. Says the issue was, did Didden bring his lawsuit in a timely manner. Says her court ruled that he hadn’t.
2:12 p.m. – Eruption! A man starts shouting very loudly as Sotomayor begins to answer after Grassley asks why Sotomayor chose to “deny Mr. Didden his day in court.” Police escort him out and Leahy lectures the spectators. Grassley smiles: “People are always saying that I have the ability to turn people on.” Laughter!
2:10 p.m. – Grassley asks what are the constitutional limitations against the government’s taking any land for a public purpose. Sotomayor responds that she won’t speak on “a hypothetical” because she is a sitting Second Circuit judge.
2:07 p.m. – Grassley says Kelo was an expansion of previous precedent, going beyond constitutional principles. Sotomayor says she understands that some hold that view, but says she has to accept the majority’s decision as precedent.
2:06 p.m. – Re the Kelo decision, is public use and public purpose the same thing, Grassley asks? Sotomayor says “the two inform each other.”
2:01 p.m. – Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) begins his questioning. He observes, with regard to developing vs. developed nations, that respect for private property has a great deal to do with the advancement of societies. Asks her about the Kelo decision.
