Republican Opening Statements on Sotomayor—Notice a Trend?

One of my co-bloggers, Patrick Edaburn, wrote a piece today titled, “Sotomayor Day One: No Surprises.” In it he says: “The first day of hearings are complete and we didn’t really have any surprises.”

That’s almost an understatement—especially on the Republican side of the aisle.

As expected, they talked about Sotomayor’s “Latino woman comment;” about empathy (Blame Obama for this one); about her personal background, gender, prejudices and sympathies; about empathy; about her life experiences; about her personal beliefs and preferences; about her biases and prejudices; about empathy; about her gender and Latina heritage; about “what’s in a judge’s heart;” and, did I mention, about empathy (Obama again)…

I thought it would be interesting to collect from the Republican opening statements the various mentions of these “issues.”

Whether it means anything or not, I’ll leave it to the psychoanalysts and pundits to decide. But I found the resulting “collection” to be fascinating. It may give us an indication as to what the rest of the confirmation hearings will focus on.

Here it is.

Statement by Sen. Jeff Sessions, ranking Republican member.

empathy standard — Call it empathy — those opinions, sympathies, and prejudices —personal background, gender, prejudices, or sympathies —a wise Latina — opinions, sympathies, and prejudices — empathy for one group — the empathy standard.

Statement by Sen. Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa:

without personal bias or prejudice — pursue personal and political agendas from the bench — personal beliefs and preferences — without bias or prejudice — own personal opinions — “empathize” in general — This “empathy” standard — “empathy” is really just legislating from the bench — free from personal politics, feelings and preferences — “empathy” standard — “empathy” standard.— personal views — Your “wise Latina” comment — personal preferences —his or her background and personal preferences —

Statement by Sen. John Cornyn, Republican of Texas:

“judicial activism.” — the life experience of each judge

Statement by Sen. Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina:

this wise Latino comment — their experience makes them better than someone else — your activism and background —what is in the judge’s heart —”The critical ingredient is supplied by what is in the judge’s heart”

Statement by Jon Kyl, Republican of Arizona:

her biases and prejudices —’gender and Latina heritage’ — putting aside their biases and prejudices —a ‘wise Latina woman’ making better decisions than other judges. — bias, or prejudice — those prejudices, biases and passions — some bias, or prejudice —employment of his or her empathy — what is in the judge’s heart — a judge’s prejudices, biases, and passions — go with his ‘gut’ or ‘heart’ —their personal feelings —decision-making based on her biases and prejudices — The ‘wise Latina woman’ quote — allow her gender-, ethnic-, and experience-based biases to guide her — her gender and Latina heritage — activist judges cover for promoting their personal preferences instead of the law — deciding cases based on her heart-felt views — setting aside her biases

Statement by Sen. Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma:

ethnicity and gender will make someone a better judge — transcending personal sympathies and prejudices — who’s got the heart and the empathy — The empathy to understand — his empathy standard — depth and breadth of one’s empathy — “reason free from passion.” — don’t expect them to sympathize — that’s where empathy comes from. — swayed by your personal biases or your political preferences — personal politics, feelings and preferences