Current Senators Voted 35-11 to Confirm Sotomayor in 1998

Five Thirty Eight ^ | Tuesday, May 26, 2009 | Nate Silver

[IbJensen]

Here's something interesting: Sonia Sotomayor was the subject of a roll call vote in 1998, when she was confirmed to her current position the 2nd Circuit. The overall vote was 67-29 in favor of confirmation, with 4 Senators not voting. All Democrats voted in favor of Sotomayor (although three did not vote), while Republicans opposed her by a 29-25 majority.

Among those Senators who are still in the chamber today, however, Sotomayor's margin of confirmation was a bit more comfortable: 35-11.

How Current Senators Voted on Sotomayor

Asterisks indicate members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Note that the ranking Republican member, Alabama's Jeff Sessions, voted against Sotomayor in 1998, although Orrin Hatch, who was then the Committee chair and remains on the committee today, voted for her.

It seems to me that with this pick, Obama may be trying to carefully calibrate the amount of Republican resistance: enough that there's a chance that they'll do something that makes them look silly, but not enough for them to seriously threaten Sotomayor's nomination with a filibuster.

[IbJensen]

As usual, our nation is deeper in trouble.

[italianquaker]

70=80 votes from this crowd

[Russ]

Confirming a position on the 2nd Circuit is a far different than confirming her to the highest court in the land. I believe we are about to witness the Peter Principle in its purest form.

[IbJensen]

Had she not been confirmed by a gaggle of Republicrats joining their Damnocrap allies Obomba would have to choose 'something' else.

Who knows? He might have pulled a reverse Eisenhower and picked a closet conservative.

But of course I know that's pure drivel. Our only hope is that these Republicrats will wake up and begin screaming because confirming her is driving yet another nail into America's coffin.

[Achilles Heel]

I am worried that some pathetic Repubbies will vote yea—why I do not know. On Drudge Report..it has her comments in a negative light re: the white male. How can she represent all groups fairly, then. She is a radical. I worry about the further erosion of the Constitution with her on the bench. What can we do to halt this?

[IbJensen]

Well, we could give our Republicrats a hot foot, or we could take a blowtorch to their backsides!

[OrangeHoof]

I’m afraid there’s not much that can be done to stop the nomination and, honestly, she’s less frightening than some of the other choices Obama could have made. I understand the GOP would love to get back at the Dems for all their obstructionism during the Bush years but this one is probably just going to make them look silly.

I’d rather save my venom for a better target (and it is a target-rich environment for objectionable liberals to stall or obstruct against).

[IbJensen]

"We're on our way, Sonia to moving this court so far left it will never recover and neither will this country we both despise."

[ZULU]

Our nation is deeper and deeper in trouble because the Party of Opposition has become the Party of Proskenesis.

The biggest obstacle to opposing the racist, socialist, Islamist, anti-American policies of the Obama Administration and the Democrat left has become...... THE GOP!

[Josa]

Fight the Abortionist In Chief every step of the way.
That’s how we kept Al Quaeda from attacking us again.
We played offense so they were too busy defending themselves
to hurt us again.

Use the same tactic with Duh-bama. Keep him busy so
he has less time to complete his plan of destruction.
Just maybe we can hold off some terrible things in time
for the 2010 election.....that is if the sheeple get
their heads out of their backsides and start paying
attention.

[Servant of the Cross]

Good post. Interesting data. However, in 1998 these did not exist as a part of her "record":

Where Policy Is Made

Sotomayer Speech at Berkeley

[Servant of the Cross]

Sotomayer is so radical and OBuma is so sleazy this could be a setup (Sotomayer as sacrificial lamb). First, to cast the GOP senators as nasty old white men who gang up on a poor Latin woman (strategy to win even more of the Latino vote in the future). Second, it would pave the way for the GOP senators to roll over for pick number two (if Sotomayer is not confirmed) whom OBuma wanted anyway. Many examples of this strategy being employed elsewhere (Rahm/Chicago style).

[Riodacat]

Second, it would pave the way for the GOP senators to roll over for pick number two (if Sotomayer is not confirmed) whom OBuma wanted anyway.

Exactly, because waiting in the wings:

[IbJensen]

In normal times, and these times with Obomba and the left in charge of the destruction of our nation are not normal, these comments by this leftist candidate would be enough to dump her into the dustbin of history:

Judge Sotomayor’s personal views may cloud her jurisprudence. As Judge Sotomayor explained in a 2002 speech at Berkeley, she believes it is appropriate for a judge to consider their “experiences as women and people of color” in their decision making, which she believes should “affect our decisions.”