GOP focuses on Sotomayor policy remark

We know the general Republican talking points for Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court. But some Republican senators appear, at times, to be slipping a bit and expressing what may be hints as to what questions Republicans will pose to Sotomayor in the upcoming confirmation hearings.

And it appears that the main issue will be her remarks about policy being made in courts of appeals.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, for example, said that Sotomayor’s remark was “unfortunate language” on Fox News last night.

“She shouldn’t be making those kind of comments,” he said. “No judge should make those kinds of comments.”

“This is very, very serious stuff,” Hatch added.

Hatch, you may remember, warned against nominating Sotomayor in early May.

And while former Massachusetts Gov. and potential 2012 presidential contender Mitt Romney (R) grabbed headlines on Tuesday for calling the nomination “troubling,” Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) used the same word to describe some of Sotomayor’s statements, ostensibly referring to the same remark.

“I do not know what her record has been, but I will say that the statements that she has made in public about judges being where you can change policy are troubling to me,” Hutchison said in Texas, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Senate Judiciary ranking member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said vaguely on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Wednesday that there are “concerns that have been raised” in his caucus.

“There is some unease out there among senators,” he said.

jeremy.jacobs@digital-stage.thehill.com