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US Senate panel votes in favor of Supreme Court pick
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US Senate panel votes in favor of Supreme Court pick
AFP - Wednesday, July 29
WASHINGTON (AFP) - - Judge Sonia Sotomayor took a big step Tuesday toward becoming the first Hispanic justice on the US Supreme Court as a key Senate panel voted in favor of her historic nomination.
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The US Senate Judiciary Committee's 13-6 vote referred the appeals court judge to the full Senate for confirmation, which was expected to occur before lawmakers leave on a month-long break August 7.
The Princeton-educated jurist would be the second woman currently on the court, alongside Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and only the third to serve on the bench including retired justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
Senator Lindsey Graham was the only Republican to join US President Barack Obama's Democratic allies in voting for Sotomayor, though a handful of others have said they will side with the White House in the final vote.
"We're 200-something years old as a nation. This is the first Latina woman in the history of the United States to be selected for the Supreme Court. Now that is a big deal," the South Carolina lawmaker said.
Even some of her most vocal critics have predicted that Sotomayor will be confirmed to the lifetime appointment, replacing retiring justice David Souter on the nine-seat high court that is the final arbiter of the US Constitution.
The justices are called to decide some of the most contentious disputes in US politics and society, including abortion, gun rights, freedom of speech and controversial national security tactics.
"I would not have chosen her, but I understand why president Obama did. I gladly give her my vote," Graham said. "America has changed for the better with her selection."
Even before the committee's action, which was widely expected, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said the judge, 55, could reach the high court before lawmakers go on their break.
"This is moving on a schedule where we think it is very doable that, before the Senate leaves town, that Judge Sotomayor will be Justice Sotomayor and able to be seated in time to begin the important work at the court," he said.
Democrats, at least on paper, have the 60 votes needed to ensure her confirmation.
That lack of suspense may be welcome at the White House, which has been unable to marshal sizeable Democratic majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives to push through a sweeping overhaul of US health care.
Republican strategists say privately they worry about hurting the party with the rapidly growing number of Hispanic voters, who went 67 percent to Obama and 31 percent to his Republican rival, Senator John McCain, in November 2008.
But the powerful National Rifle Association gun rights group has come out against Sotomayor, a step likely to make any Republican defectors think twice and could cause headaches for Democrats in major gun-owning states.
Over four days of hearings before the committee, Sotomayor fought back against charges of racial bias, professing "fidelity to the law" as her highest virtue and disavowing a past comment that a "wise Latina" might be a better judge than a white male.
"I want to state up front, unequivocally and without doubt, I do not believe that any ethnic, racial or gender group has an advantage in sound judging," the appeals court judge told lawmakers.
Republicans charged that Sotomayor had insufficiently dispelled their worries that her personal views, not the law, would guide her future decisions on issues like gun rights and racial preferences.
Democrats said that Sotomayor's 17-year record on the bench showed her to be a careful and fair judge guided by precedent.
Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said she was impressed "as a woman" by Sotomayor's rise from a poor childhood in the Bronx in New York to the pinnacle of US justice -- which mirrors Obama's own storybook ascent to power.
"I believe she will be an impressive member of the highest court in the land," she said.
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Enlarge Photo
Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor, seen here on July 14, 2009, took a big step Tuesday toward becoming the first Hispanic justice on the US Supreme Court as a key Senate panel voted in favor of her historic nomination.
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