05.26.09 | Scott Statement on Sotomayor Nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court

May 26, 2009

WASHINGTON, DC - On President Obama's nomination today of U.S. Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor, Congressman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA-3) issued the following statement:

"President Obama appears to have selected a well qualified and highly experienced candidate for a position on the U.S. Supreme Court. Currently a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which sits in New York, Judge Sotomayor has strong academic credentials and

extraordinary judicial and life experiences when compared to other Supreme Court Justices, past and present. She served five years as a local prosecutor in New York, seven years as a trial attorney with a law firm, six years as a U.S. trial court and 11 years as a U.S. appellate court judge. As a former prosecutor, litigator, U.S. trial court and current U.S. appellate court judge, Judge Sotomayor brings more federal judicial experience to the Supreme Court than any justice in 100 years, and more overall judicial experience than anyone confirmed for the Court in the past 70 years. In fact, she will be only Justice on the court with any trial court experience. This is important since trial court is where you learn the practical applications of the law.

"In addition to her more than three decade distinguished career in nearly every aspect of the law, having grown up in a single parent Hispanic household (her father died when she was 9) in public housing in New York City, and then having graduated with high honors from both Princeton University and the Yale Law School, Judge Sotomayor's life is an extraordinary American story.

"Judge Sotomayor was nominated to the U.S. district court by President George H.W. Bush and to the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by President Bill Clinton. This suggests a judicial temperament that will likely be moderate. I suspect her decisions on the U.S. Supreme Court will not satisfy completely neither those who wish to see a more conservative, nor those who wish to see a more liberal, philosophy than reflected by the decisions of Supreme Court Justice Souter whom she will replace."

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