confirmation hearings

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Sotomayor Will Likely Get Some GOP Votes
Sotomayor Will Likely Get Some GOP Votes
ANALYSIS
Jun 1, 2009 10:55 AM CDT

Sotomayor Will Likely Get Some GOP Votes

Limbaugh, Gingrich posturing belies thin Senate opposition

(Newser) - Despite loud opposition from the likes of Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh, many Republican senators may vote for Sonia Sotomayor, the New York Times reports. Strategists on both sides suspect that at least a third of the upper house’s 40 Republicans will back the Supreme Court nominee, including the...

Sotomayor Lax in the Voting Department

Erratic record in state elections may arise in confirmation hearings

(Newser) - Sonia Sotomayor isn't much of a voter. She skipped multiple New York elections in the past decade, including three for state supreme court, reports NY1. The 2nd Circuit appeals judge failed to vote for governor in 2002 and 2006, and for court positions in 1995, 1999, and 2007. Sotomayor is...

Noonan: Time for Republicans to Grow Up
Noonan: Time for Republicans to Grow Up
OPINION
May 29, 2009 7:06 AM CDT

Noonan: Time for Republicans to Grow Up

Sotomayor hearings a time for debate, not attacks by 'idiots'

(Newser) - Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings are coming up, and Peggy Noonan has some advice for Republicans: play grown-up. “Some, and they are idiots, look at Judge Sotomayor and say: attack, attack, kill,” she writes in the Wall Street Journal. One told her the fight would excite the base....

Obama Loses 'Empathy' Line After GOP Sullies Phrase

(Newser) - “Empathy” was a key part of President Obama’s vocabulary when he first started talking about his Supreme Court nominee, Sheryl Gay Stolberg writes in the New York Times, but the word has disappeared. “Conservatives have hijacked empathy and turned it into an epithet,” Stolberg writes. When...

Sotomayor Aced 2 Previous Senate Hearings

Tough questioning from GOP didn't faze court nominee

(Newser) - Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are still debating how tough they'll be at Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearing, but as the Washington Post reports, the Supreme Court nominee doesn't buckle under pressure. In the long-delayed 1997 hearing that elevated her to the Second Circuit, Sotomayor survived a GOP grilling on...

Attacking Nominees Demeans Court
 Attacking 
 Nominees 
 Demeans Court 
OPINION
May 27, 2009 3:53 PM CDT

Attacking Nominees Demeans Court

(Newser) - The political attack ads popular in general elections have a profoundly negative effect on the public’s view of the Supreme Court when used during the nomination process, James L. Gibson writes fror Miller-McCune.com. “Politicized confirmation processes can indeed damage the institution of the US Supreme Court itself,...

What They'll Say to Fight Sotomayor
What They'll
Say to Fight Sotomayor
Analysis
May 27, 2009 10:13 AM CDT

What They'll Say to Fight Sotomayor

Critics call nominee racially insensitive, lacking intellect

(Newser) - Sonia Sotomayor’s opponents are already polishing their script, Politico reports. They’ll call her radical, racist, and stupid—albeit via softer buzzwords. She’s a “judicial activist” fond of “identity politics,” with a questionable “intellect.” Here are the charges against her:
  • She lacks “
...

Obama: Court Pick Will Go Beyond 'Ivory Tower' Smarts

(Newser) - President Obama said today he would be announcing his nominee to the Supreme Court “soon” and hopes to have the new justice confirmed by Congress’ August recess, Bloomberg reports. In a C-SPAN interview, Obama laid out his criteria, which includes not only “ivory tower learning” but also empathy....

GOP Must Get Revenge in High Court Hearings
GOP Must Get Revenge in High Court Hearings
OPINION
May 20, 2009 8:10 AM CDT

GOP Must Get Revenge in High Court Hearings

Democrats changed the rules by opposing Roberts, Alito

(Newser) - When Democrats waged an ideological war on the Supreme Court nominations of conservatives John Roberts and Samuel Alito, they set a dangerous precedent that should boomerang on whoever President Obama selects, says the Bush official in charge of those confirmations. Previously, the Senate graciously ushered through anyone with sufficient intellect,...

Swine Flu Emergency Is a Cover-Up: Pro-Life Groups

Obama trying to push Sebelius nom through

(Newser) - Is the swine flu emergency just an Obama administration plot? Anti-abortion groups think so, noting that confirmation hearings begin today for would-be Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “Some people think that declaring a state of emergency about the flu was a political thing to push the Sebelius nomination through,”...

New Solicitor General in Line for High Court

Center-left lawyer will work closely with Supremes

(Newser) - Elena Kagan became America's first female solicitor general yesterday, putting her one step closer to a possible Supreme Court nomination, the AP reports. As the so-called "10th Supreme Court justice," Kagan will effectively audition for the high court if she argues a Voting Rights Act case next...

Commerce Nominee Locke Sails Through Hearing

Sens. give him warm welcome at confirmation hearing

(Newser) - Gary Locke, President Obama’s third pick for commerce secretary, faced an amiable crowd during today’s confirmation hearing, the Washington Post reports. Locke’s background check was “clean and happy reading” or “boring,” depending on the senator, but not controversial. The former Washington governor—who, if...

Moderate Is Obama's First Court Nominee

President to pick judge with bipartisan backing for Seventh Circuit

(Newser) - President Obama will make his first judicial appointment this week, choosing a moderate judge for the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, sources tell the New York Times. The selection of David Hamilton, an Indiana judge with bipartisan support, is meant to signal the administration's effort to reduce the...

Senate Confirms Panetta as CIA Chief

(Newser) - The Senate confirmed Leon Panetta as director of the CIA tonight, placing the nation's top spy agency in the hands of a government veteran valued for his skills as a lawmaker and policy manager rather than an expert at intelligence-gathering and analysis. The Senate approved President Obama's choice on a...

GOP Questions Put Brakes on Holder Vote

Committee will wait week on AG nominee, infuriating chair Leahy

(Newser) - The Senate Judiciary Committee delayed today’s scheduled vote on Eric Holder’s confirmation by another week, CNN reports. Republican members engineered the move, saying they have questions about the attorney-general nominee’s stance on interrogation techniques. Chairman Patrick Leahy, who said he was “extremely disappointed,” banged down...

Geithner Sorry, Blames TurboTax
 Geithner 
 Sorry, 
 Blames 
 TurboTax 

UPDATED
Jan 21, 2009 10:50 AM CST

Geithner Sorry, Blames TurboTax

Treasury nominee, at confirmation hearings, apologizes for tax missteps

(Newser) - Timothy Geithner apologized for failing to pay $34,000 in taxes today in his Senate confirmation hearing. “I should have been more careful,” the would-be Treasury secretary said, calling them careless, avoidable mistakes. When asked how he prepared the taxes he replied, “I will answer that, but...

Holder: Waterboarding Is Torture

But supports FISA, Patriot Act

(Newser) - Eric Holder minced no words when asked about waterboarding in his confirmation hearing today. “Waterboarding is torture,” the AG-designate said, a declaration neither Michael Mukasey nor Alberto Gonzales was willing to make. He said that, even in emergencies, the president couldn’t override the constitution. Republicans also leapt...

Clinton Gets Group Hug in Senate Clubhouse
Clinton Gets Group Hug in Senate Clubhouse
OPINION
Jan 14, 2009 11:42 AM CST

Clinton Gets Group Hug in Senate Clubhouse

(Newser) - For all the press and spectators vying to squeeze into the hearing room where Hillary Clinton testified yesterday,“there was no suspense inside,” writes Dana Milbank in the Washington Post. Grilling the secretary of State nominee gave way to congratulating a colleague, as senators slathered on the compliments...

Clinton Says US Willing to Engage Syria, Iran

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton signaled a willingness to directly engage Iran and Syria in talks once she's secretary of state—a prospect she had denounced as "naive" during the campaign, the Wall Street Journal reports. In her confirmation hearing—she is expected to be easily approved later this week—Clinton said...

Chu Vows to Boost Energy Efficiency

(Newser) - Energy Secretary-designate Steven Chu told a Senate panel today that he would pursue an expansion of nuclear and clean coal power if confirmed, Politico reports. Chu had been criticized for calling coal “my worst nightmare.” Barack Obama has also been vague about his nuclear energy policy. But while...

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