Judge Sotomayor’s confirmation process should be fair and smooth (Rep. Joe Sestak)

I endorse Judge Sotomayor and call on Senators to also support her, and have a fair confirmation process as well as hearings based on her extraordinary credentials. I am optimistic that Senators from both parties will be taken with the impressive qualities in Judge Sotomayor, just as Presidents from our two main political parties have. These qualities should lead to a smooth confirmation process.

Judge Sotomayor’s life experiences, success in a variety of roles and judicial track record make her a worthy replacement for Justice Souter. She has served impressively as a big-city prosecutor, a corporate litigator, a federal trial judge on the U.S. District Court, and an appellate judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Importantly for a member of our nation’s highest judicial authority, she has gained bipartisan support as a judge, having first been nominated by Republican President George H. W. Bush for District Court in Southern New York, and then by Democratic President Bill Clinton for the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. She also brings more federal judicial experience to the Supreme Court than any justice in 100 years.

President Obama’s background as a constitutional law professor has served him well in this selection. I support his approach of looking for a nominee who, like Judge Sotomayor, understands that championing our Constitutional values demands that a judge understand how laws impact Americans’ everyday lives. I agree with the President’s assessment that the Senate should be able to finish the confirmation process before the August recess, giving the new justice time to prepare in advance of the period in September when the Court selects cases to be heard this year.