Sotomayor Meets With Senators
Capitol Hill was bustling Tuesday as Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor made courtesy calls to top senators. A rolling scrum of media followed her as she entered and left private meetings with Senate leaders and top Judiciary Committee lawmakers.
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Judge Sonia Sotomayor made the rounds on Capitol Hill today. President Obama's Supreme Court nominee followed the tradition of other recent nominees. She met with Senate leaders and members of the Judiciary Committee. That's the committee that will hold her confirmation hearing. The last nomination was four years ago, so a visit by a Supreme Court nominee is a rare event, and it's one that's heavily covered by the media, including NPR's Andrea Seabrook.
ANDREA SEABROOK: Rule number one for a prospective Supreme Court Justice: Do not talk to the press. But just in case, the media were out in full force today, following Sotomayor from one meeting to another, mics on, video rolling and still cameras flattering their shutters.
Senator HARRY REID (Democrat, Republican; Senate Majority Leader): Well, thank you all very much for...
SEABROOK: First stop - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's office. He spoke directly to Judge Sotomayor, who sat next to him in a matching wing chair. He said she's been an underdog many times, but has always come out as the top dog. Their public appearance lasted exactly one minute and 42 seconds. The media gaggle then swept across the street to an office building where Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy works. He's the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, the ringleader of Sotomayor's upcoming confirmation hearings. Will he make news? Announce when the hearings might be, perhaps?
Senator PATRICK LEAHY (Democrat, Vermont): This was at the Easter Egg Roll…
SEABROOK: The media documented every second, as Leahy showed off pictures of his five grandchildren to Sotomayor.
Judge SONIA SOTOMAYOR (U.S. Supreme Court Nominee): That's such a precious picture.
Sen. LEAHY: That's something I'm proud of.
SEABROOK: They sat for the cameras for a moment and then shooed the press out of the room to talk privately. After all, this is a big job interview, and first impressions do count. After the meeting, Leahy gave his.
Sen. LEAHY: Whether you're from the South Bronx, the south side of Chicago or South Burlington, Vermont, your life experiences do shape you.
SEABROOK: He didn't say when the hearings might be, except to say this.
Sen. LEAHY: I'll tell you one thing that will motivate me to go sooner rather than later - is you have vicious attacks by leading Republicans call her the equivalent of the head of the Ku Klux Klan and call her a bigot, totally false and outrageous charges, and there's only one place she can answer those charges - would be in a hearing.
SEABROOK: Leahy said he's comforted that the rhetoric is not coming from actual Senators. Meanwhile, Sotomayor was escorted to her next meeting, the first one with a Republican, Jeff Sessions, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee.
Senator JEFF SESSIONS (Republican, Alabama): Ten meetings will be a busy day.
SEABROOK: Once again, two chairs, big smiles and almost nothing said - until the cameras left. Afterwards, Sessions described his talk with the judge.
Sen. SESSIONS: We discussed the moral authority of law and judges and the need for the American people to feel that those judgments are based on the law and the facts.
SEABROOK: Sessions said Sotomayor was forthright in her discussion, perhaps a tiny preview of how her nomination hearing will go. It's certainly all the media is going to get for today.
Andrea Seabrook, NPR News, the Capitol.
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