Sens. Continue To Press Sotomayor On Abortion Rights On Third Day Of Confirmation Hearings

In her third day of confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor deflected lawmakers' attempts to elicit specific answers on how she would rule on abortion-rights cases and other contentious issues, the Washington Post reports (Goldstein et al., Washington Post, 7/16). As she entered what likely will be the final day of testimony on Thursday, Sotomayor's confirmation "seemed on track," and Republicans appeared to be "conceding that they had not built the momentum necessary to derail the nomination," according to the New York Times, (Stolberg/Lewis, New York Times, 7/16).

Cornyn Questions Abortion-Rights Views

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) asked Sotomayor whether reports that Obama administration officials had sought to elicit her views on abortion were accurate. She responded that she "was asked no question by anyone including the president about my views on any specific legal issue" (Espo/Sherman, AP/Houston Chronicle, 7/15). Cornyn cited comments from George Pavia -- the senior partner at the New York law firm where Sotomayor previously worked -- who stated that he could "guarantee" that she would "be for abortion rights." Sotomayor said, "I have no idea why he's drawing that conclusion," adding, "If he was talking about the fact that I served on a particular board that promoted equal opportunity for people, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, then you could talk about that being a liberal instinct, in the sense that I promote equal opportunity in America and the attempts to ensure that." She continued, "But he has not read my jurisprudence for 17 years, I can assure you. He's a corporate litigator. And my experience with corporate litigators is that they only look at the law when it affects the case before them" (Washington Post, 7/16). Sotomayor added that she "know[s] for a fact that I never spoke to [Pavia] on my views on abortion or my views on any social issue" (Bendavid, "Washington Wire," Wall Street Journal, 7/15). Sotomayor noted that she once ruled to uphold the "global gag rule," also known as the "Mexico City" policy, which barred federal funding of international family planning groups that provide abortion information or services (New York Times, 7/16).

Coburn Presses on Hypothetical Cases

During his questioning, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) asked Sotomayor about hypothetical cases related to abortion-rights issues, including if it would be legal if a woman sought an abortion at 38 weeks' gestation if the fetus had spina bifida. Sotomayor said, "I can't answer that question in the abstract, because I would have to look at what the state of the state's law was on that question and what the state said with respect to that issue." She continued, "The question is, is the state regulation regulating what a woman does an undue burden? And so I can't answer your hypothetical, because I can't look at it as an abstract without knowing what state laws exist on this issue or not. And even if I knew that, I probably couldn't opine, because I'm sure that situation might well arise before the court" (Holman, "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," PBS, 7/15).

Sotomayor also said that the Supreme Court's 1992 ruling in Planned Parenthood v. Casey "reaffirmed the core holding of Roe v. Wade that a woman has a constitutional right to terminate her pregnancy in certain cases" (Hirschfeld Davis, AP/Boston Globe, 7/16). She added that the ruling said the court should consider whether any state regulation "has an undue burden on the woman's constitutional right" (Sherman, AP/Sacramento Bee, 7/15).

Coburn also asked whether medical advancements that help premature infants survive might "have any bearing on how we look at" Roe (Savage/Oliphant, Chicago Tribune, 7/16). She said, "I can't answer that in the abstract," adding, "The question as it would come before me wouldn't be in the way that you form it as a citizen, it would come to me as a judge" (AP/Houston Chronicle, 7/15).

Specter Seeks Clarification on Roe

During questioning by Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), the lawmaker asked Sotomayor, "Would you think that Roe might be a super-duper precedent?" He said that the 1973 case has been upheld in 38 cases. Sotomayor answered that Roe was indeed settled (AP/Houston Chronicle, 7/15). She added, "The history of a particular holding of the court and how the court has dealt with it in subsequent cases would be among one of the factors as many that a court would likely consider" ("NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," PBS, 7/15).

Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, criticized Sotomayor for not stating support for a "woman's fundamental right to abortion." Northup also criticized the Senate Judiciary Committee -- with the exception of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) -- for not pushing Sotomayor harder to explain her views on abortion rights. According to Northup, Sotomayor "largely stuck to the script." She added, "For more than a generation, the Senate has been part of a conspiracy of silence on judicial nominees' views on abortion rights" (Chicago Tribune, 7/16).

Broadcast Coverage
NPR's "All Things Considered" on Wednesday reported on abortion-rights issues discussed at Wednesday's hearing (Totenberg, "All Things Considered," NPR, 7/15).


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