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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Single Mom is no surprise.
What should we expect? He is part of the "GOP Cabal of No" that is made up of Boehner, Cantor, and McConnell. You would be hard pressed to find one single item that they have agreed with or voted for since the new administration took over.
Who cares? He is just an old fool without anything at the end of his brain-stem.
Way to appeal to your KKKentucky base, Mitch!!! Please continue to spearhead the charge of the GOP to the Dark Ages.
McConnell is awesome. I'm proud that he's my senator. Go Mitch!
I think knowing that intelligent Hispanic, female is soon to become confirmed makes him feel insecure about his own future and certain demise of the Good Ol' Boys club...
Perhaps one day he will accept that he doesn't live in the 1700s but I wont hold my breath.
Poor, poor generic white man. Can't stand the sight of a Latina woman who has double the IQ of him and the rest of his klan.
Well.. they deserve their own opinions. Just curious, what was his opinions against Sotomayor for her 1998 appellate court nomination?
@Moody, and all the other fools on this blog who take any criticism of anyone who is not anglo as proof-positive of "racism": That dog won't hunt anymore. In the post-racial world, people are judged on their merits, did you hear?
She couldn't answer a Yes or No question – how difficult is that?
BTW – I'm not racist, bigoted, or against open dialogue and different opinions. What I do seek in political office is someone that is honest, consistent, and does not change with the winds of public opinion. Wouldn't that be a change for Republicans and Democrats!
WHO CARES WHAT THIS OLD MAN DOES, HEY ! THIS OLD SENATOR MUST ALREADY HAVE RESIGNED FROM HIS SENATORIAL SEAT. DEFINITELY SENATOR MITCH McCONNELL DOESN'T WHAT IS HE VOTING FOR OR AGAINST.
NEXT, PLEASE.
@ bOOby g~ are you SERIOUS????????? her skin color? You racist pig! She is more qualified than ANYONE currently on the Supreme Court, she has more experince, more years on the bench,. a higher level of education, a MUCH longer list of opinions, more published, more cases...I mean are you SERIOUS? The reason she wasnt picked by duh-bya might be because of her skin, but not this time. People like you are whats wrong with this country and I wish there was an island for racist biggots like you to be sent away to...Maybe Gitmo would work
"racist" "racist" "racist".............what most from the left call anyone that disagrees with them. Well, people that are so good at throwing out the "racist" word must truly know what it takes to be a "racist" because without a doubt they are a first hand "racist".
Mr. Mitch McConnell – You pick one highly controversial ruling (so highly that the SCOTUS had to go to a 5-4 split decision to overturn it and create a new precedent of it), then you wants to make it looks like it was a poor judgement (4 Justices disagrees with you BTW) and that she does it all the time (Check her records, she doesn't)...
Excuse me, but was it a lame excuse for sheer bigotry from your part?
Mitch,
You have made a very serious mistake. I truly predict that you will be voted out next term by male/female people of color and women.
You have nothing to offer to our government or the people.
You truly are a waste of tax-payer dollars.
WHY IS ANYBODY SURPRISED, THIS GUY HATES OBAMA SO MUCH THAT NO MATTER WHAT HE (OBAMA) SAYS OR DOES HE WILL OPPOSE IT, NO MATTER IF IT'S GOOD FOR THE COUNTRY ,OR NOT THE REPUBLICANS HATE YOU IF YOU DON'T THINK AS THEY DO, I NEVER WITNESSED A PARTY SO FULL OF HATE, THEY SHOULD BE REFERRED TO AS THE "PARTY OF HATE", THEY ARE, AND HAVE DESTROYED OUR IMAGE, BUT OBAMA WILL BRING US BACK TO WHERE WE WERE BEFORE THE BUSH, CHENEY, CROWD RUINED US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT WHOLE "CROWD BELONGS IN JAIL"
Lack of repsect for the law...sounds like the Bush Administration to me. I can't see what McConnell's problem is with Ms Sotomayor. The Republicans cheap-shotted her the entire time she was in front of the committee. She has more experience than the last two Supreme Court Justices, combined. Get over yourselves GOP!
Kissing up to the right wing fringe, hey there Mitch, in an attempt to keep your job? You should lose your job. You are a United States Senator, and you are a disgrace. KY, you deserve real and honest representation for all your citizens. Good luck with that.
Not suprised he would vote against his own mother if she were a democrat...
Mitch Mc Connell is the most unpatriotic man in the senate. His job is to get the president, the country be damned
TERM LIMITS
How do people like this keep their jobs?
At least you have the guts to vote against an obvious ideologue, a "trojan horse" liberal, who will repudiate everything she told the committee. Screw the hypocrites on the left. They know nothing.
You should have said what our now-VP said when Roberts gave the committee similar empty platitudes. "You have told us nothing."
I can't convince the liberal hypocrites on this board otherwise, and I won't even try. Besides, when TSHTF, the last thing they will hear from me is "from my cold, dead hands."
He is one fine helluva cantankerous character, cautiously castigatin' Sotomayor's records. Let's see some smile on your face, schmuk!
We all knew he'd vote against her. He just wanted to get in the news making a big statement about his vote. He wasn't getting enough attention since the Sanford scandal. Is each Senator going to get in the news saying how he/she is going to vote? This is silly.
Look at the way he looks. Who could ever take somebody that
ugly seriously?