AN EASY RIDE:

Prior Senate Support Bodes Well for Sotomayor (Congressional Quarterly, 5/26/09)

Retaining the help of eight key senators who supported Sonia Sotomayor more than 10 years ago could give President Obama a filibuster-proof first nomination to the Supreme Court.

The eight senators — all Republicans at the time — who voted to confirm Sotomayor to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 1998 following her nomination by President Bill Clinton: Judd Gregg of New Hampshire; Robert F. Bennett and Orrin G. Hatch of Utah; Thad Cochran of Mississippi; Susan Collins and Olympia J. Snowe of Maine; Richard G. Lugar of Indiana.

Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, then a Republican, now a Democrat, also supported her confirmation.

Sotomayor was confirmed by 67-29 on Oct. 2, 1998.

MORE:
Sotomayor Blurs Lines in Abortion War (Dan Gilgoff, 5/26/09, US News)

"She is a radical pick that divides America," Americans United for Life said this morning. [...]

Despite the purported outrage by conservative groups, Sotomayor's thin record on abortion is most likely a relief to those groups—and may actually wind up making abortion-rights groups anxious. In light of today's AUL statement, for instance, it may come as a surprise that Sotomayor receives the kindest treatment of nine potential Obama Supreme Court nominations the group examined.

AUL notes that Sotomayor upheld a ban on federal funds going to abortion providers overseas. "The Supreme Court has made clear that the government is free to favor the antiabortion position over the pro-choice position, and can do so with public funds," Sotomayor wrote in the decision. She has also ruled in favor of antiabortion protesters who sued West Hartford, Conn., claiming that police there used excessive force against them at a demonstration.