WASHINGTON (CNN) - Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will vote against the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, his office announced Friday, marking the first time the Kentucky Republican has ever opposed a nominee to the high court.
"Judge Sotomayor's record of written statements suggests an alarming lack of respect for the notion of equal justice, and therefore, in my view, an insufficient willingness to abide by the judicial oath," he said in a written statement. "This is particularly important when considering someone for the Supreme Court since, if she were confirmed, there would be no higher court to deter or prevent her from injecting into the law the various disconcerting principles that recur throughout her public statements. For that reason, I will oppose her nomination."
McConnell, who also opposed Sotomayor's 1998 appellate court nomination, has previously voted to confirm every Supreme Court nominee since joining the senate in 1985, including Clinton appointees Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer.
Other senators who have announced their intent to vote against Sotomayor are Republicans Jim Bunning of Kentucky and Bob Bennett of Utah. Bennett supported Sotomayor's 1998 appellate court nomination.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced Thursday that the GOP will not attempt to block a direct vote on Sotomayor's nomination. Currently, Republicans control 40 seats in the chamber, just shy of the number needed to indefinitely delay a final vote.
From CNN Politics
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please vote this old guy out!
Party of No "leader"....shocking.
No prob Big Mitch.
She'll be approved without your vote.
Of course he will. Republicans are the party of No after all.
Hahaha mcConnell when are you gonna realize nobody care about what you say .vote for or against nobody cares you and your party are and has been HISTORY
She will be appointed, DOES THIS GUY BELONG TO "THE FAMILY ON C STREET"? AND THEY SAY THE PRESIDENT'S APPROVAL HAS SLIPPED, THANK GOODNESS HE DOESN'T PAL AROUND WITH ANYONE FROM "C" STREET, MICHELLE AND THE GIRLS SHOULD BE WORRIED IF HE WOULD PAL AROUND WITH ANY OF THEM!
Liar. Does the GOP know it's really not scoring any points with this?
gee, what a surprise! this guy is a hypocrite like the majority of the right wing is so frankly it would surprise me if he did anything else. the only word he knows is "no". of course it's a relatively new word to him since all he did is say "yes" to bush/cheney!
Like we really give a rodents rectum what this lily-white backward hick thinks...the lead of the P[H]ARTY of NO...He's insignificant and he knows it!
Big surprise...not!
There's going to be a lot of dems foaming at the mouth on this one!
Popcorn... get your popcorn hee-yah.
Relax, libs – she's going to get in. The responses are going to be fun to read, though.
Well, well, well I am not getting enough attention: This should do it – "I won't vote for her". Well get over it – no one cares whether you vote for her or not.
She doesn't need his vote anyway.
Thanks Mitch. Such a vote by one of the leaders of Dumbf–kistan merely confirms that Sotomayor will make a great Justice!.
who cares what mitch does or thinks he is on his way out the door anyway.
Imagine that, A senator from Kentucky that isn't going to vote for anyone other than a conservative white guy. Shocking!
Do we expect anything different from this man? It would be news if he actually voted for something from the other side of the aisle.
That's great Senator. Thanks for your input. We don't need your vote.
typical of a conservative republican, racist bigots
He is an idiot!
Of course the good old boys will vote against a minority woman candidate. Were she half as qualified, but looked like SP with a law degree, these guys would be all over themselves praising her. Pat Robertson was at least honest last night when he touted the great white men who "wrote the documents, fought the wars, and built this great country.") Presumably, all by themselves with no help from the stupid little women or the native Americans whose land they stole.
That's our celebrity culture for you. No instant gratification equals "I'm entitled and I'm unhappy."
His vote doesn't matter. She'll get the nod. This windbag has faded into irrelevancy anyway.
All Hispanic voters will remember your vote next election. I hope they are taking stock, writing note to remind themselves that no matter what you guys say in 2010 and 2012; they'll remember the nomination and how you guys guys treated her.
Not a big deal in the scheme of things.