John McCain Joins Republicans in Opposing Sonia Sotomayor for Supreme Court

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Aug 3, 2009   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

John McCain Joins Republicans in Opposing Sonia Sotomayor for Supreme Court

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 3
, 2009

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Former presidential candidate John McCain will join more than two dozen Republicans in opposing Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. The full Senate is expected to vote this week on her confirmation after the Senate Judiciary Committee approved her last week on a 13-6 vote.

“I do not believe she shares my belief of judicial restraint," McCain said in a speech on the Senate floor on Monday.

"She is a judge who has foresworn judicial activism in her confirmation hearings, but who has a long record of it prior to 2009," McCain said.

"And should she engage in activist decisions that overturn the considered constitutional judgments of millions of Americans, if she uses her lifetime appointment on the bench as a perch to remake law in her own image of justice, I expect that Americans will hold us Senators accountable," the Arizona lawmaker added.

McCain’s no vote likely won’t be enough to stop pro-abortion President Barack Obama’s nominee from replacing retiring pro-abortion Justice David Souter.

That McCain would oppose Sotomayor’s nomination points to the clear divide between him and Obama on Supreme Court nominees during the presidential election.

Had McCain defeated Obama last November, pro-life advocates would have had a better chance of getting a pro-life person to replace Souter on the high court. With the Supreme Court appearing to have a 5-4 majority in favor of legalized abortions, replacing Souter with someone who is more open to overturning Roe v. Wade could have helped stopped the era of more than 50 million abortions.

During his speech, McCain criticized the chamber’s pro-abortion Democrats for opposing Miguel Estrada, a pro-life advocate President Bush named to a federal appeals court, and chiding Republicans who oppose Sotomayor with claims that the opposition is racially motivated.

Meanwhile, Sen. Jon Kyl, a pro-life Arizona Republican, said today he will not vote to confirm Sotomayor.

"For 220 years, presidents have sought out judges and justices who fulfill the requirement that they put aside any personal opinions and apply appropriate U.S. law to impartially resolve disputes," Kyl said. "I have not been persuaded that Judge Sotomayor will uphold this important tradition. For these reasons, and others, I will oppose her confirmation."
Kyl said Sotomayor’s judicial record gives him "reason to believe she will not set aside her own personal biases when deciding a case."

Just one Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, pro-life Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, backed Sotomayor during the panel’s vote. But other Republicans are expected to join him and the chamber’s majority Democrats on the Senate floor.

Last week, the National Right to Life Committee announced its opposition to Sotomayor and said she would likely advance abortion on the high court.

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