Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is warning Democrats that there will be “consequences” if Democrats go forward with their accelerated confirmation schedule for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. In a floor speech this morning, McConnell said that Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy’s decision to begin the Sotomayor hearings on July 13 — a faster pace than followed in the Roberts, Alito, and Breyer nominations — is “puzzling.” And then came McConnell’s warning:
[Sen. Leahy’s decision] risks resulting in a less-informed hearing, and it breaks with years of tradition in which bipartisan agreements were reached and honored over the scheduling of hearings for Supreme Court nominees. And it damages the cordiality and good will the Senate relies on to do its business. These kinds of partisan maneuvers have always come with consequences. This time is no different.
The short version of that message is: If Democrats go ahead, Republicans will use their powers to make life in the Senate miserable. The minority party has the ability to slow down Senate proceedings to an agonizingly slow pace, which would not only affect the Sotomayor nomination but could also jeopardize top Obama administration priorities like health care reform. In addition, McConnell joined fellow Republicans in raising questions about the information Sotomayor submitted to the Senate in connection with her nomination:
As Senator Sessions informed us yesterday, the questionnaire Judge Sotomayor filled out suffers from several significant omissions. For example, she failed to produce numerous opinions from cases in which she was involved as a district attorney. In addition, she failed to produce a memorandum from her time with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund that opposed the application of the death penalty. When this omission was brought to the judge’s attention, I understand that the White House then provided this memorandum, saying it was an “oversight.” But in the rush to complete the questionnaire in order to garner a talking point, you are prone to these sorts of mistakes. This of course counsels the Senate to have a thorough, deliberative process, not a rush to judgment in order to meet an arbitrary deadline.
I have more on the questions surrounding Sotomayor’s questionnaire here.
