Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Burr to oppose Sotomayor

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C. of Winston-Salem, will oppose Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination for the U.S. Supreme Court, saying he admires her qualifications but that he fears she would impose her personal beliefs in setting legal precedent.

“My fear is that she has been unable to separate her personal belief system from that of the letter of the law,” Burr said in a prepared statement.

Sotomayor, who would be the first female Hispanic member on the court, has been widely criticized by Republicans for a speech in which she said “a wise Latina” might sometimes make better decisions than a white male.

Burr is a conservative Republican who nonetheless praised Sotomayor’s experience when she was first nominated. He faces re-election next year in a state with a growing population of Hispanic voters.

There are 70,565 registered Hispanic voters in the state, nearly double the numbers two years ago. The numbers are still small though, representing just 1 percent of registered voters.

Burr met with Sotomayor last week and said in his statement that she brings impressive academic credentials and a lengthy judicial record. But he said he worries about whether she will apply a strict interpretation of the Constitution.

“While she stated in her testimony that she would adhere to legal precedent, her judicial record suggests otherwise,” Burr said. “In several cases she has clearly ignored precedent or cited precedent that did not apply to the facts at hand, and I believe let her personal beliefs cloud her judgment.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed Sotomayor’s nomination Tuesday. It now goes to the full Senate. U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, a Democrat, previously said she would support Sotomayor.

- Barbara Barrett

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

That would be the first FEMALE Hispanic. Benjamin Cardozo was the first Hispanic justice on Supreme Court

Anonymous said...

Ole' DICK Burr...gotta love that man. Guess he's pandering to the staunch conservatives since he knows she's got it in the bag.

Anonymous said...

The GOP Congressmen are way too terrified of the NRA to vote for Sotomayor. Only a few brave GOP members will dare to go against the right wing special interest groups.

It shows the Hispanic voters where the GOP loyalty lies.

Anonymous said...

Why must you liberals bring race into everything? The decision on whether to support or oppose her nomination is supposed to be on the merit of the individual and her adherence to the Constitution and the law. Senators (not Congressman) must be blind to the genetic makeup of the individual and analyze the candidate's ability to perform the previously mentioned tasks. This mirrors the ideal that judges should be blind to the parties in front of them and decide cases based upon facts and law (ever seen a statue of lady liberty holding the scales of justice? hint, she is blindfolded). Many people, myself included, worry that Judge Sonia Sotomayor will not abide by this standard. She has repeatedly stated that she thinks judges make law and that ethinicity and gender are indicative of wisdom. Further, these beliefs have impacted her judicial decisions on multiple ocassions. She therefore has demonstrated that she will not adhere to the Constitution, laws, and precedent when the outcome will conflict with her beliefs. For this reason, all Senators, Republicans and Democrats alike, should oppose her nomination and not allow ethnicity and gender to cloud their judgment. I, for one, applaud Senator Burr for standing up for what the Constitution requires and for sticking with his convictions instead of flowing with the political winds and pandering for votes.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Sen. Burr for this vote...

The LAST thing USSA needs is a latina lesbian RACIST member of LaRaza on SCOTUS.

Anonymous said...

go hide your money in your mattress fool

Anonymous said...

Of course he is.....Typical party politics.....Republicans usually do that thing...and how many of the Elephants, including Burr, are taking the money from the Healthcare Industry???????

Anonymous said...

Hey, at least we've satisfied the racist post quota for a Charlotte.com article. Way to go Charlotte readers! Ignorance rules!

Anonymous said...

I am not surprised at the ignorance that is displayed on this board. It is a sign of what really is at the root of the problem here. These fools listen to their chief propagandist (the drugster) Limbaugh and repeat the lies that he tells them every day. The Repugs just can't accept the fact that they lost the last election.

Anonymous said...

Got God Gang

( ( ( ( ears on ) ) ) )

eye (s) open

re supreme court nomination

hold on guys, don't start calling someone a lesbian if they're not

we're not going to win by misleading people

i've lost it with the gay community but i'm still a Christian

the usa presently is a feminist country now and everybodies real confused

men want to be women and women want to be men

and this is adding to the unstable economy no one knows where the owner is these days

will the owner of the store please come forward, the absentee owner is staus quo

so it's time to man-up, men take control and get the usa back on solid ground

reinforce our foundation

more later....

Anonymous said...

Richard Burr is an ass. He has opposed decent legislation, is blatantly in the pocket of large, corporate interests and is a bootlick for the far right conservative Christian wingnuts. Other than that, he's OK.

Anonymous said...

I sure hope U.S.Senator Hagan listens to her voters of NC.PLEASE DO NOT CONFIRM Sotormayor. She is not the right person for that position. Do not know who is right yet. But she just does not have the qualifications needed to fill that high office. She may one day, but does not yet. She needs to humble out a little bit. We have read all the activities she has been involved in to this point. Not being able to address The United States of America by The United States of America, or the United States Congress as The United States Congress. The United States of America is a melting pot of people and she should address it that way. Not single out any one group. PERIOD! Everyone is held responsible for what they say and who you associate with especially in the public eye. If you do not mean something, do not say it. Just don't say anything at all. And by all means READ BEFORE YOU SIGN ANYTHING. We VOTED for our officials to decipher all this government legislation & bills that come before them. If someone is in a HURRY to have you sign something..you know who'd better had READ it completely. It is the fine print that will hurt us.

Anonymous said...

Hopefully Republicans & Democrates will when they see a good bill or legislation they will work together on it to perfect it. You can not in this day and age vote blindly your party lines. If somethings not a good bill or legislation, work on it together and move on. There are a lot of items to take care of now.

Anonymous said...

Hopefully Republicans & Democrates will when they see a good bill or legislation they will work together on it to perfect it. You can not in this day and age vote blindly your party lines. If somethings not a good bill or legislation, work on it together and move on. There are a lot of items to take care of now.

Anonymous said...

Need more attention hell no one cares anymore about all the illegals we sure need not a judge to give them more help

Anonymous said...

Wow anymore its like everyone is throwing the race card around and most of the time it comes from people who are not even legal citizen. In my opinion i feel as though the people who should be in control of goverment are the people who have paid there dues and served this country in the armed forces and that would solve a lot of this junk that goes on. Its sad that people who have no idea what its like to fight for a country are some how fit to run it. As far a sotomayor goes i wouldnt vote for her she goes against everything that is America she will not follow constitution and will prob allow every illegal to come here and stay as if that isnt already the case. I wish people would wake up and realize that the people that founded this great country are now on the verge of being the minority and over run so if anyone should use the race card it should be us not the illegal people.

PoliSpice said...

It's great to see that you liberals are still throwing race into everything, bashing those with whom you don't agree, and utterly failing to provide a single shred of evidence to support your assertions or Judge Sotomayor. For all the talk about Republicans being dumb or ignorant, it seems to me that we are the only ones using facts, logic, and a knowledge of history and the American legal system to support our views.

Here is some advice, stop calling people ignorant or stupid until you actually learn some facts and use them to support your positions. If you want to see mine, look above.