Sotomayor downplays race with top senatorsSotomayor downplays race with top senators
Michael Muskal, Los Angeles Times
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Judge Sonia Sotomayor sought to defuse the issue of race Tuesday as she met with top senators, her first step to woo the people who will vote on her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.
For Sotomayor, it was a day of meeting with top lawmakers in the Capitol, especially those on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the first hurdle in her campaign to move from the federal appellate circuit court to the Supreme Court.
The committee has yet to set a hearing date on the nomination, but Republicans indicated they could wait until September, a month before the new Supreme Court term begins. The White House had hoped that Sotomayor would be confirmed before the Senate recesses in August, but June hearings are unlikely, Democrats said.
