Cornyn comments on Sotomayor nomination

There has been plenty of praise going around this morning -- even from Republicans -- about President Barack Obama’s decision to nominate Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court. Even U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, praised Sotomayor’s humble beginnings and rise to become a federal judge. “The president was good to call me, just to touch base with me on this,” Cornyn says. “I said, ‘Mr. President, you won the election, you get to make the pick. I just hope you don’t jam us” on researching the nominee’s background, Cornyn said in a telephone press conference today. Sotomayor’s past comments at a panel discussion in which she said that “policy is made” in the courts as well as an employment discrimination decision she participated in that seemed to suggest she supported a quota system for promotion will be discussed in her confirmation hearing, Cornyn said. “I’m not going to pre-judge her, but I certainly think these are red flags,” he says.

-- John Council