Enzi and Barrasso vote against Sotomayor
Meg Lanker
Monday, August 11, 2009 7:35 PM MDT
The U.S. Senate confirmed Sonia Sotomayor Thursday by a vote of 68-31 as the 111th Supreme Court Justice and the first Hispanic justice to serve on the court.
Sotomayor was sworn in Saturday by Chief Justice John Roberts.
The vote fell largely along party lines with nine Republican Senators voting to confirm Sotomayor, and 31 voting against her confirmation. Senate Democrats voted in the majority, with 59 voting to confirm. Sen. Ted Kennedy D-Mass., who is currently battling brain cancer, was not able to vote.
Both of Wyoming’s Republican senators, Sen. Mike Enzi and Sen. John Barrasso, voted against Sotomayor’s confirmation, citing concerns over the Second Amendment and abortion. “The [Puerto Rican Defense and Education] Fund, while Judge Sotomayor served in a leadership capacity, filed briefs with the Supreme Court not only supporting abortion rights, but in support of federal funds for abortion services," said Enzi, in a statement on his official website.
Enzi stated his disagreement with the organization’s positions and said, “I cannot help but wonder how Judge Sotomayor would use her experiences with the Fund to rule on a possible case before the Supreme Court.” He also cited concerns with her positions on international law and of judicial impartiality.
Sen. John Barrasso shared Enzi’s concerns over judicial impartiality in an official statement on his website Thursday. “At her confirmation hearing, Judge Sotomayor stated that her judicial philosophy is ‘fidelity to the law,'” said Barrasso. He said this contrasts “her extensive commentary over the past 15 years” and was worried that Sotomayor would value “personal experience over impartiality” in her decision-making should she be confirmed to the Supreme Court.
In a previous statement July 23, after meeting with Sotomayor, Barrasso said he had concerns on her stance on the Second Amendment and the reverse discrimination case of Ricci v. DeStefano.
According to a news release Thursday, Wyoming Democratic Party Chair Leslie Petersen said she wished to congratulate Judge Sotomayor and “wish her the best of luck as she embarks on this important journey.”
Petersen said that the Wyoming Democratic Party was “ashamed and disappointed that neither of our Senators voted for this outstanding woman.”
She said, “Today’s confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor is a historic event for the U.S. Supreme Court and for the American people. Our nation’s highest court will gain a sharp mind and a highly experienced justice to its bench.”
Petersen cited Sotomayor’s “expansive legal career as a judge, a litigator and a prosecutor” as an asset to the Supreme Court. “With more judicial experience than any justice on the court in the last 70 years, she couldn’t be more prepared to rise to the monumental task of serving our country as a Supreme Court Justice,” said Petersen.
The chair of the Wyoming Republican Party, Diana Vaughan, could not be reached for comment.
Letter to the Editor: Reminders of tyranny
In an academic (but not particularly intellectual) institution like the University of Wyoming, it might be a good idea to rename all of the University's buildings so that they can be used as talking points for future generations.
We could be the first university to turn its campus into a living monument to villainy. After naming a building after Cheney, we could name another after Nixon and then perhaps another after Grover Norquist (the Republican genius who decided to destroy America in order to save it).
Then, we could name our ROTC building after Benedict Arnold, who sold out his country because he didn't get a promotion. Certainly, President McKinley and William Randolph Hearst should be paired for blowing up the Battleship Maine as a pretext for the Spanish American War. L.B.J. should be remembered as the first of the American strong men to get us into a war solely in order to get rid of our huge inventory of weapons.
And, finally, Bush should be honored by renaming Old Main for the whole Bush crime family.
John Hanks
Laramie, Wyo.
We could be the first university to turn its campus into a living monument to villainy. After naming a building after Cheney, we could name another after Nixon and then perhaps another after Grover Norquist (the Republican genius who decided to destroy America in order to save it).
Then, we could name our ROTC building after Benedict Arnold, who sold out his country because he didn't get a promotion. Certainly, President McKinley and William Randolph Hearst should be paired for blowing up the Battleship Maine as a pretext for the Spanish American War. L.B.J. should be remembered as the first of the American strong men to get us into a war solely in order to get rid of our huge inventory of weapons.
And, finally, Bush should be honored by renaming Old Main for the whole Bush crime family.
John Hanks
Laramie, Wyo.
