Sessions Nails Soto Right Out of the Gate

Jillian Bandes | July 14, 2009 10:51 AM

Sen. Jeff Sessions didn't waste any time during the first round of opposition questioning at Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings this morning. He opened by expressing his approval at Sotmayor's commitment to the "fidelity of the law," which she expressed in her remarks yesterday. But then he launched into a series of questions that probed her commitment to impartiality, the Constitution, and judicial precedent. "We’d have a lot fewer problems today" if Sotomayor had adhered to the idea that she has always had "fidelity to the law," he said.

Sotomayor had little to add except a further extrapolation of what she said yesterday.

In every case I have decided, I've done what the law requires....I believe my record of seventeen years demostrates fully that I believe that judges must apply the law fully and not make law.

Sessions then questioned her about her statement that the "Court of appeals is where policy is made."

I think that if my speech is heard outside the minute and a half on You Tube, I think its very clear I was not making the statement that courts make the law.