The Senate Judiciary Committee voted largely along party lines to approve the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was the only Republican to vote in favor of sending Judge Sotomayor’s nomination to the full senate:
The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee voted 13-6 to approve Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor on Tuesday, with only one Republican crossing party lines to back her nomination.
The vote sends her nomination to the full Senate and brings Ms. Sotomayor one step closer to the high court, where she would become the first Hispanic justice. The Senate is expected to approve her nomination next week, before Congress adjourns for its summer recess.
So far, no Democratic senators have said they will vote against her. Five Republicans, including judiciary committee member Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), have said they will support her.
“I would not have chosen her, but I understand why President Obama did,” said Sen. Graham on Tuesday, challenging some of the criticism his colleagues launched against her. “I haven’t seen this activism that we all dread and should reject.”
In the full Senate, 18 Republican senators have announced they oppose Ms. Sotomayor’s nomination, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) and the remaining six Republicans on the judiciary committee.
Republicans wary of attacking the high court’s likely first Hispanic judge have been quick to praise Ms. Sotomayor’s personal achievements, lauding her rise from the Bronx housing projects to Princeton University and Yale Law School and her 17 years spent as a trial and appellate judge. But her critics have repeatedly pounced on remarks Ms. Sotomayor made in speeches they said revealed judicial activism.