Loading ...Many in the media continue to be fascinated by the angle on the Sotomayor confirmation hearings that Senator Sessions was once not confirmed for a judicial post by the very same committee one which he is now ranking member. It is an interesting angle, but it’s not the only hook into this story.
If things had gone as planned in 1986, the conservative Alabama prosecutor would have been confirmed to a lifetime appointment to a federal judgeship. But allegations of racism cast Sessions as a throwback to the Jim Crow South, and the Senate Judiciary Committee voted down his nomination. Stunned and embarrassed, Sessions returned home to Mobile as a man undone.
Soon he turned to politics, was elected to the Senate and joined the very committee that denied him a seat on the federal bench. He ascended from behind the scenes to the panel’s top Republican spot, and it now falls to him to weigh the GOP’s competing interests and political calculations while guiding the fractured party through the upcoming confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Yesterday, the judge went to the Capitol for private meetings with Sessions and other key senators.
I have been a long-time critic of Senator Sessions on any number of issues, but so far, I am very proud of the way he has handled himself in this process. Of course he isn’t just going to let the nomination go forward without any scrutiny, but he has been extremely fair and deferential in his criticism up to this point. I expect vigorous questioning from him in the hearings, but nothing nasty or grossly unfair. I hope he doesn’t disappoint me.
Sessions, GOP’s Lead on Panel Weighing Sotomayor, Was Once Rejected for Bench – washingtonpost.com.
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