Sotomayor -- brief update

Inhofe on Why He Refuses to Meet Sotomayor [Mark Hemingway]

Sen. James Inhofe's refusal to meet with Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor seems to have caused some consternation in certain liberal circles; at Talking Points Memo they've accused him of not being "open-minded." I called Inhofe's office hoping to get a better explanation of his reasoning directly, but unfortunately the senator is traveling and I was unable to speak with him. The senator did, however, give me this statement on the matter:

While Judge Sotomayor’s personal history is compelling, I will be voting against her confirmation for two reasons. First, Judge Sotomayor has consistently demonstrated a propensity for legislating from the bench, and a deference for international laws that threaten our nation’s sovereignty. The job of the court is to follow the Constitution and act as an impartial arbiter of the law, not a maker or shaper of the law. This leads to the second reason I will be opposing her nomination. The Supreme Court is a higher position that requires the bar be set higher for her nomination. Her judicial activism led me to vote against her nomination for the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in 1998. Given the higher bar, and the fact that her views of the court have not changed, it only stands to reason that I would vote against her once again.

Having determined how I will vote, I declined to meet with Judge Sotomayor out of deference to her busy schedule. She has been very busy meeting with many other Senators, and she still has many more to meet with. I did not wish to waste her time.