Sotomayor visits senators on the Hill

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor on Tuesday paid her first Capitol Hill visits to key senators who’ll be voting on her confirmation. She found Democrats enthusiastic and Republicans wary and somewhat skeptical.

Though Republican senators vowed to ask tough questions about affirmative action and judicial activism, however, few were willing to rule out backing the 54-year-old federal appellate judge.

Nominated last week by President Barack Obama to replace retiring Justice David Souter, Sotomayor spent the day in lengthy private conversations with senators that lasted about half an hour each.

They quizzed her on the controversies that have surfaced in recent days, notably her views on abortion rights and her 2001 comment that a “wise Latina woman” could reach “a better conclusion than a white male.”

Democrats, who control 59 Senate seats, emerged largely satisfied and unsurprised by what they heard.

“I don’t think she’s vulnerable at all,” said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

Republicans on the committee were less enthusiastic.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said he thought that the “wise Latina” comment “was not an isolated incident,” and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, thought that “some of the things that have been said are troubling.”

However, because senators historically are reluctant to oppose Supreme Court nominees whom they regard as qualified, and because an important political constituency has embraced Sotomayor as the first Hispanic nominee, there was little outright opposition to her.