Why Sotomayor may get hardball questions from own party?
Andy Pincus, a partner in Mayer Brown’s Supreme Court practice, who has argued 19 cases before the high court, says Sotomayor may draw some friendly fire from Democratic senators: Pre-hearing speculation has focused on the tough questioning that will come from Republicans on a variety of hot-button issues—the Ricci case, gun control, and abortion, for example. But the Democrats won’t restrict themselves to softballs (although with David Cone listed as a witness, there certainly will be some about baseball). The topics on which Democrats pressed Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito during their confirmation hearings haven’t gone away, and Judge Sotomayor is likely to face attempts to elicit her views. Take terrorism-related issues, for example. Senator Leahy and other Democrats asked the two prior nominees about constitutional limits on indefinite detention of suspected terrorists, the application of due process to military tribunals, and the President’s ability to override generally
The topics on which Democrats pressed Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito during their confirmation hearings haven’t gone away, and Judge Sotomayor is likely to face attempts to elicit her views. Take terrorism-related issues, for example. Senator Leahy and other Democrats asked the two prior nominees about constitutional limits on indefinite detention of suspected terrorists, the application of due process to military tribunals, and the President’s ability to override generally-applicable legal limitations, such as the prohibition of torture and limits on interception of Americans’ communications. We don’t know much about how Judge Sotomayor would approach these issues, many of which remain in the headlines as the Obama Administration finds itself unable to devise quick solutions to detainee and intelligence issues. Another topic certain to come up is the death penalty. The Court has not been receptive to claims by death row defendants: just last month it rejected an inmate’s atte
Andy Pincus, a partner in Mayer Brown’s Supreme Court practice, who has argued 19 cases before the high court, says Sotomayor may draw some friendly fire from Democratic senators: Pre-hearing speculation has focused on the tough questioning that will come from Republicans on a variety of hot-button issues—the Ricci case, gun control, and abortion, for example. But the Democrats won’t restrict themselves to softballs (although with David Cone listed as a witness, there certainly will be some about baseball). The topics on which Democrats pressed Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito during their confirmation hearings haven’t gone away, and Judge Sotomayor is likely to face attempts to elicit her views. Sources: http://blogs.wsj.
