Law and Courts

Republicans are unlikely to back healthcare reform just because they're offered tort reform in the bill, one House conservative declared Friday afternoon.

Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) said that GOP-ers were unlikely to defect to back the Democrat-crafted bill in any circumstance.

"That's an interesting thought," Lamborn said on the Fox Business Network when asked if by offering reform of medical malpractice lawsuits, President Obama could win Republican votes for his health reform effort.

"Tort reform has not been part of this bill up until now, so it's not really a serious bill," he added. "I don't think they'll be able to pick off a few republicans under any circumstances."

Tort reform has long been a prized issue of Republicans, seen as a way of limiting the work of trial lawyers (who are generally supportive of Democrats), while eliminating a factor in the inflationary prices of healthcare.

A Scottish judge's order to release Pan Am Flight 103 bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi will only endanger the U.S., one of the lawmakers working to keep the convict in jail said Wednesday.

Al-Megrahri was convicted in the bombing the flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, and was ordered released on Wednesday on "compassionate" grounds; he is suffering from terminal cancer.

"Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was convicted of killing 270 innocent people after a fair trial and was given ample opportunities to appeal his case," Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.Y.) said in reaction. "The man who committed these awful crimes should not be allowed to walk free."

Lautenberg was one of seven senators to write the Scottish judge who released al-Megrahri demanding he be left to die in prison.

Lautenberg said that the former Libyan agent's release increases the risk of attacks on the U.S.

"Releasing Mr. al-Megrahi also sends the wrong message about the consequences of international terrorism and increases the threat of terror in the United States, the United Kingdom and around the world," he said.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor was assigned one of her first official duties as a member of the high court on Monday, ordered to oversee initial appeals in the Tenth Circuit of courts in the U.S.

The justices announced the allotment of circuits they'll oversee in miscellaneous orders on Monday, with its newest member taking responsibility for cases in the Tenth Circuit, which includes appeals stemming from Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and three districts of Oklahoma.

Sotomayor will handle that single circuit, while Chief Justice John Roberts will handle three. Justices John Paul Stevens and Samuel Alito will each handle two circuits, while the remainder of the justices will oversee only one.

In a related story, the Court also announced extended allotments for oral arguments in a challenge to campaign finance laws put in place earlier this decade.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a longtime opponent of the 2002 McCain-Feingold law, will get 10 minutes in oral arguments, pitting him against Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who also received 10 minutes.

The parties to the case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (FEC), will each get 30 minutes to make their case before the court.

The Senate voted to confirm Sonia Sotomayor today by greater than a 2-to-1 margin.

68 senators voted to confirm Sotomayor, with 31 opposed. Sen. Ted Kenned (D-Mass.) did not vote due to illness.

The an official roll call has not yet been posted, it appeared that every Democrat voted for Sotomayor, with 9 Republicans joining: Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), George Voinovich (R-Ohio), Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), and Kit Bond (R-Mo.)

The vote followed an hour of speeches by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala), ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, Pat Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Minority Leader, and Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Senate Majority Leader.

No stranger to the spotlight himself, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) is calling for the Supreme Court to share the stage -- by opening up proceedings to television cameras.

"The Court is a public institution and should be available to all Americans, not just the select few who can travel to Washington," Specter wrote in the National Law Journal, calling called for greater transparency from the the judicial branch, and putting the argument in populist terms.

Specter admitted that the move might bring the Court down to earth, but felt the move would increase its profile.

"Retaining the majesty and mystery of the Supreme Court as an institution may, at first blush, counsel against admitting television cameras," he said. "Yet it is only through observation of that venerable institution that an educated public can truly appreciate its significance."

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor has voiced support for the idea in her testimony to Congress, citing "positive experiences" with the working arrangement. Specter also noted that The U.S. would not be alone in making the move: the United Kingdom's newly-established Supreme Court will broadcast its proceedings when it opens in October.

In line with his emphasis on duty and accountability, Specter also sharply criticized the court for a decline in the number of cases it has decided in recent years. He wrote that "this shrinking output is hampering the Court's role and function under the Constitution."

Specter has some standing on the issue, as he was formerly the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee. Specter lost his seniority in his party switch from the Republicans to the Democrats earlier this year.

-Eric Messinger

The Senate Judiciary Committee has convened for its decision on whether to approve Judge Sonia Sotomayor as the newest member of the Supreme Court.

Sotomayor is not present for today's hearing--she went through four days of questioning two weeks ago--and her approval is all but assured by the committee. Democrats hold a 12-7 edge on the panel, and
all Democrats are expected to support President Barack Obama's nominee as well as at least one GOP senator, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) opened the meeting with an exhortation on Sotomayor's behalf.

"Judge Sotomayor is well qualified; one need look no further than her experience, ability, temperament and judgment," Leahy said. "The president nominated a person with more federal judicial experience
than any nominee in the last 100 years. He nominated someone with federal trial judge experience and someone who was a prosecutor."

Leahy went on to push back against Republican criticism that Sotomayor will be an activist judge, saying that "in her 17 years on the bench there is not one example, let alone a pattern, of her ruling based on
bias or prejudice or sympathy."

Ranking Republican Jeff Sessions (Ala.) painted a far different picture of Sotomayor in his opening statement, saluting her performance during the confirmation hearings but repeated his Monday statement that he will oppose the nomination out of fear that Sotomayor won't judge cases dispassionately.

The committee has convened in a dramatically different format than Sotomayor's hearings two weeks ago. Instead of the formal dias, the committee has gathered around a series of folding tables, grouped into a square and draped in black.

--J. Taylor Rushing

After several weeks of publicly refusing to say, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) wrote Monday to announce that he'll vote against confirming Judge Sonia Sotomayor to join the U.S. Supreme Court.

Sessions had led the Republican effort on the Sotomayor nomination as ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee -- a position in which he was installed only recently, after the defection of the previous ranking member, Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.), to the Democratic caucus.

Sessions announced that he'd oppose Sotomayor in an op-ed in USA today on Monday.

"I don't believe that Judge Sotomayor has the deep-rooted convictions necessary to resist the siren call of judicial activism. She has evoked its mantra too often," Sessions wrote. "As someone who cares deeply about our great heritage of law, I must withhold my consent."

Sessions had maintained that he was concerned by Sotomayor's record throughout the confirmation process, but had remained coy about his final vote intention as Republican colleagues on the Judiciary committee and in the Senate as a whole split, with some centrist members supporting President Obama's nominee.

(Hat tip: SenateUS)

Two Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee announced today that they will vote against Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) both claim that Sotomayor's judicial philosophy is too outside the mainstream for the Supreme Court.

"[Sotomayor's] speeches contain very radical ideas on what the role of a judge is," Cornyn said. "In her speeches, she said: there is no objectivity in law; courts should change the law to make new policy; and ethnicity and gender can and even should impact a judge's decisionmaking."

"The stakes are simply too high for me to confirm someone who could address all these issues from a liberal, activist perspective," he continued.

Hatch a former chairman of the Judiciary Committee who has had a hand in numerous confirmation battles, said he wished he could vote for the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice but found Sotomayor's philosophy unacceptable.

"The prospect of a woman of Puerto Rican heritage serving on the Supreme Court brought great excitement to me and says a lot about America," Hatch said. "However, after thoroughly reviewing Judge Sotomayor's record and being able to hear her testimony and responses during the hearing process, I reluctantly, and with a heavy heart, have found that I cannot support her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court."

In some ways, Cornyn's decision isn't a surprise: He's a top ranking Republican and one of the most conservative members of the Judiciary Committee.

On the other hand, the Texas Republican comes from a state with a big (and growing) Latino population. It's undoubtedly troubling for Cornyn to risk alienating such a large swath of voters.

Despite his decision to oppose Sotomayor, Cornyn acknowledged that she would likely be confirmed anyway.

"I will vote with the certain knowledge that she will be confirmed despite my vote," Cornyn lamented. "I wish her well. I congratulate her on her historic achievement. I know she will be an inspiration to young people--within the Hispanic community and beyond.

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), the second ranking Republican in the Senate and a fellow Judiciary Committee members, has also announced his intention to oppose Sotomayor. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is the only Republican on the Judiciary Committee to come out in favor of Sotomayor so far.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce backed Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court on Thursday, saying they expect her to treat businesses fairly as a member of the highest judicial body.

"Consistent with her recent testimony, we expect Judge Sotomayor to engage in fair and evenhanded application of the laws affecting American businesses," said Chamber President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue in a statement.

The backing represents a bit of a surprising public backing of a judicial candidate by the leading business group. The announcement comes before a vote on the Senate floor on Sotomayor's confirmation next week in which she's expected to be confirmed with strong Democratic backing and some Republicans' support.

Donohue explained the Chamber's reasoning for endorsing the Supreme Court candidate in his statement.

"In recent years, the Supreme Court has played an increasingly important role in deciding issues that affect the business community," he said. "A healthy economy requires a healthy respect for the rule of law. We expect all the Supreme Court Justices to apply the law fairly and predictably, and not to legislate from the bench."

Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) is a "maybe" on voting to confirm Sonia Sotomayor, the Charlotte News & Observer reports.

Burr spokesman David Ward said Monday that the Republican senator wants to ask Sotomayor a few more questions about her record.

"He will be able to make a more thorough assessment of her qualifications after meeting with her next week and asking specific, substantive questions to ensure that she is committed to upholding the Constitution and the rights and freedoms it protects," Ward said in a statement.

A handful of Republicans--Lugar (Ind.), Snowe (Maine), Collins (Maine), Martinez (Fla.)--have announcd their support for Sotomayor. But Burr would be the most conservative Republican so far to support the President's nominee.

Coincidentally, the North Carolina Republican is up for re-election in 2010.