GOP keys in on Sotomayor’s ‘prejudice’

Many have wondered how aggressively Republicans would challenge Judge Sonia Sotomayor during her Supreme Court confirmation this week. The RNC provided a glimpse of Republicans’ strategy today, tweeting:

Sessions’ key ? for #Sotomayor: When judge shows empathy toward 1 party, does s/he not also show prejudice against other? http://is.gd/1x7sq

The RNC tweeted using a new account established to follow Sotomayor’s confirmation called @RNCSCOTUS. The tweet links to an op-ed penned by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) that appeared in the Boston Herald. The junior senator wrote:

As the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, I have pledged that Sonia Sotomayor’s hearing will be fair and respectful – but also thorough and rigorous.

…President Barack Obama and Sotomayor have expressed a very different view of judging. This view says that justice should not be blind, that it should not be based only on the law and the Constitution, but that it should take a judge’s own personal feelings into account.

The president says that when “constitutional text will not be directly on point,” the critical ingredient for a judge is the “depth and breadth of one’s empathy,” as well as “their broader vision of what America should be.” But when a judge shows empathy toward one party, does he or she not also show prejudice against the other?

Sessions indicated that he will pursue a tough line of questioning with Sotomayor. You can follow the confirmation hearings via Twitter Room and by following the hash tags #sotomayor and #sotoshow on Twitter.