Senate Debate on Empathy
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Text From the Congressional Record


Menendez, Robert [D-NJ]
 
Begin 2009-08-04 19:18:55
End   19:34:16
Length 00:15:21
Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I rise in proud support of the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor. We are not only about to cast a vote this week that will make history, but we are about to stand witness in some small way to the coming age of America.

The great Founders of this democracy built a nation on an idea and an ideal. They devised the unique experiment in a new form of government built on tolerance, equal rights, justice, and a constitution that protected us from the mighty sword of tyranny. They forged a community from shared values, common principles, yet preserved the freedom of every citizen to pursue happiness and reach for the stars no matter their position, no matter their circumstance at birth.

It was a revolutionary notion that in America one is not bound by his or her social or economic status; that if we work hard, reach further, aim higher, everything--anything--is possible.

Unlike other nations united by common history, common language, and common culture, America prides itself on its motto: E pluribus unum--out of many, one. In our blind rush to one side of the political spectrum or the other, we too often forget those words. We too often forget that we are united in our differences in a vast melting pot forged from common values and an ideal of freedom that is the envy of the world.

Today, as we prepare to confirm Judge Sotomayor, the full realization of that ideal is closer than it has ever been. I know it, I feel it, for I have lived it. I stand here, someone who himself came from humble beginnings, raised in a tenement building in a neighborhood in Union City, NJ, a son of immigrants, first in my family to go to college, and now in a nation of 300 million people, 1 of 100 Members of the U.S. Senate.

I never dreamed growing up that one day I would have the distinct honor to come to the floor of the Senate to rise in favor of the confirmation of an eminently qualified Hispanic woman who grew up in the Bronx across the river from the old tenement I lived at in Union City. I never dreamed that as a U.S. Senator of Hispanic heritage, I would have the privilege of standing in the well of this Chamber to cast a historic vote for the first Hispanic woman on the highest Court in the land. So for
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me personally, my vote for Judge Sonia Sotomayor will be a proud moment, one I will always remember as a highlight of my time in the Senate.

When Judge Sotomayor takes her seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, America will have come of age. We will need only to look at the portrait of the Justices of the new Supreme Court to see how far we have come as a nation, who we really are as a people, what we stand for, and what our Founders intended us to be. It will be a striking portrait--one of strength, diversity, spirit, and wisdom, the portrait of a nation united by common concerns, yet still too often divided by deeply held individual beliefs.


There are those in this Chamber who, because of those deeply held beliefs, will vote for Judge Sotomayor and those who will not, each for their own reasons, each in part because of who they are, where they grew up, how their perspective has been uniquely shaped by their individual circumstances and experiences. Their vote will be based on their own logic, their own reasoning, how they interpret the facts and the testimony before them. Each of us will analyze and debate those facts from our own
perspective. We will hold to our own intellectual positions. We will disagree. Some will find fault with Judge Sotomayor's choice of words. Some will interpret her statements and rulings differently than she may have clearly intended. Some will question her temperament, her judgment, the details of her decisions. But in this debate and, ultimately,
in the final analysis, none of us can deny the role our experience will play in our decision. None of us can deny our backgrounds, our upbringing, the seminal events that shaped our life. We cannot deny who we are. All we can ask of ourselves--of any of us--is that wisdom, intelligence, reason, and logic will always prevail in the decisions we make.

Those who would say a U.S. Senator or a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court does not carry something with them from their experience are simply out of touch with reality. But let us remember that who we are is not a measure of how we judge; it is merely the prism through which we analyze the facts. The real test is how we think and what we do.

Let's be clear. Given the facts, given the evidence before us, Sonia Sotomayor is one of the most qualified and exceptionally experienced nominees to come before the Senate. I am proud to stand in favor of her confirmation, not because of where she came from, not because we share a proud ethnicity, but because of Judge Sotomayor's experience and vast knowledge of the law. I am proud to stand in favor of her nomination not because she is a Hispanic woman but because of her commitment to the rule
of law and her respect for the Constitution; not because of the depth of her theoretical knowledge and respect for precedent but because

of her practical experience fighting crime; not because of one statement she may have made years ago outside the courtroom but because of a career-long, proven record of dedication to equal justice under law. Nothing--I repeat nothing--should be more important to any nominee than a dedication to those simple words chiseled above the entrance to the Supreme Court: ``Equal Justice Under Law.''

These are the reasons I am proud to stand in support of her confirmation, and these are the reasons I believe Judge Sotomayor should be unanimously confirmed by the Senate. But I know that will not be the case. I know there will be few on the other side of the aisle who will cast their vote in support of her. I know some of my colleagues have suggested that Judge Sotomayor may not have the judicial temperament necessary to serve on the Supreme Court. To those Senators who get up and say that,
I say watch the hearings again. Watch them closely. Listen to what was asked, watch her responses, take note of the depth, the dignity, and clarity of her answers. Be aware of the deference she showed every Senator on the committee, her tone, the tenor of her responses, her rebuttals, and then tell me she does not have the proper judicial temperament.

I think most Americans who watched her, who listened to her, would respectfully disagree. Most Americans do not care about one specific statement out of hundreds of statements. They care about the person. They care about the experience. They care about honor and decency and dignity and fairness. They care about who she is and what she has accomplished in her long judicial career. Put simply, they care about the record, and the record is clear. It shows she has a deep and abiding respect for the
Constitution. It shows that the leaders of prominent legal and law enforcement organizations who know her best, those who have actually seen her work, say she is an exemplary, fair, and highly qualified judge. It shows a crime fighter who as a prosecutor put the ``Tarzan murderer'' behind bars. It
shows a judge who has upheld the convictions of drug dealers, sexual predators, and other violent criminals. And it highlights a deep and abiding respect for the liberties and protections granted by the Constitution, including the first amendment rights of those with whom she strongly disagrees.

Judge Sotomayor's credentials are impeccable. Set aside for a moment the fact that she graduated at the top of her class at Princeton. Set aside her tenure as editor of the Yale Law Review, her work for Robert Morgenthau in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, her successful prosecution of child abusers, murderers, and white-collar criminals. Set aside her courtroom experience and practical hands-on knowledge of all sides of the legal system. Even set aside her appointment by George H.W.
Bush to the U.S. District Court in New York and her appointment by Bill Clinton to the U.S. Court of Appeals and the fact that she was confirmed by both a Democratic majority Senate and a Republican majority Senate, which alone tells this Senator, if she was qualified then, she must be qualified now. Set all that aside, and you are still left with someone who would bring more judicial experience to the Supreme Court
than any Justice in the last 70 years, more Federal judicial experience than anyone nominated to the Court in the last century. Her record clearly shows that someone so experienced, so skilled, so committed, so focused on the details of the law can be an impartial arbiter who follows the law and still has a deep and profound understanding of the effect her decisions will have on the day-to-day lives of everyday people.

With all due respect to my colleagues who plan to vote against this nominee, what speaks volumes about Judge Sotomayor's temperament, what speaks volumes about her experience, what speaks volumes about her record is that the worst--the very worst--her opponents can accuse her of is an accident of geography that gave her the unique ability to see the world from the street view, from the cheap seats.

I know that view very well. I grew up in it. I can tell you that certainly it gives you a unique perspective on life. it engenders compassion. It engenders pathos. It focuses a clear lens on the lives of those whose struggles are more profound than ours, and whose problems run far deeper. Yes, I know that view well, and it remains with me today, and it will remain with me all of my life.

I daresay there may be no greater vantage point from which to view the world--to see the whole picture--than a tenement in Union City or a housing project in the Bronx. Thomas Jefferson, in his first inaugural address said:



I shall often go wrong through defect of judgment. When right, I shall often be thought wrong by those whose positions will not command a view of the whole ground.



Judge Sonia Sotomayor surely commands a full, wide expansive view of the whole ground. It is a strength, not a weakness. It is who she is, not what she will do or how she will judge. It is the long view, and it gives her an edge where she may see what others cannot. And that is a gift that will benefit this Nation as a whole.

I ask my colleagues to take the long view and see what this nomination means in the course of this Nation's glorious history. For me, the ideal, the idea of America, the deep and abiding wisdom of our Founders, will have come of age when Judge Sonia Sotomayor raises her right hand, places her hand on the Bible, and takes the solemn oath of office. With it, the portrait of the Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court will more clearly reflect who we are as a nation, what we have become, and what we
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fair, just, and hopeful people. Let that be our charge. Let that be our legacy. Let someone who is committed to the Constitution, to the rule of law, to precedent--and who has exhibited that over a lifetime of work--be our next Supreme Court Justice.

I am proud and honored to support the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor as the next Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

And finally, numerous civil rights, Latino, and law enforcement organizations join me in supporting Judge Sotomayor's nomination. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record letters of support from the following organizations: Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, the National Puerto Rican Coalition, the National Fraternal Order of Police, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, Federal Hispanic Law
Enforcement Officers Association, the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, to name a few.

There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: