Grassley expresses concerns about Sotomayor

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s judicial philosophy is a cause of concern that doesn’t fit “with what I and many others believe is the proper role of a judge or an appropriate judicial method,” Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley said Monday during his opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“President Obama said that he would nominate judges based on their ability to ‘empathize’ in general and with certain groups in particular,” Grassley said. “This ‘empathy’ standard is troubling to me. In fact, I’m concerned that judging based on ‘empathy’ is really just legislating from the bench.”

Sotomayor’s past statements lead him to believe she fits into the president’s “empathy” standard. Grassley also discussed Sotomayor’s now-famous “wise Latina” quote, saying it gives him pause and is something he will be exploring when he questions her later.

“In one speech, you doubted that a judge could ever be truly impartial,” he said. “In another speech, you argued it’d be a ‘disservice both to the law and society’ for judges to disregard personal views shaped by one’s ‘differences as women or men of color.’ In yet another speech, you proclaimed that the court of appeals is where ‘policy is made.’ Your ‘wise Latina’ comment starkly contradicts a statement by Justice O’Connor that ‘a wise old woman and a wise old man would eventually reach the same conclusion in a case.’”

Grassley closed by congratulating Sotomayer and promising her a “fair and respectful hearing, as is appropriate of all Supreme Court nominees.”