Graham Goes There

Jillian Bandes | July 14, 2009 4:42 PM

Sen. Lindsay Graham just asked Sotomayor to recite her "wise Latina" comment in front of the entire hearing room. She laughed it off, and Graham eventually didn't follow through with his request.

Graham: "If I would've said that, they would've had my head, do you understand that?

Sotomayor: "I do understand."

Graham said he would refrain from judging her just based on that one statement, but that he hoped she would "recognize the world we live in." If others made a similar statement, said Graham, they would not be able to achieve what she had achieved.

Sotomayor said that she agreed with him. To which Graham replied:

Well, If that's the only thing that comes from this hearing, then it's been worth it.

Before that, that, Graham read off a list of grievances against Sotomayor based on an evaluation by judges on the second circuit. She is considered temperamental and difficult to work with by her co-workers, according to Graham, while her fellow judges are considered easy and measured. "You stick out like a sore thumb," he said.

Her explanation was that she simply asks tough questions. She said she had a "hot bench," and that lawyers in the second circuit "find that tough bench challenging."

"They find you more challenging than your colleagues," he retorted. "Do you think you have a temperament problem?"

"No sir...I believe my reputation is such that I ask the hard questions, but that I do it evenly for both sides."