As expected, the Senate Judiciary Committee has voted mostly along party lines to give a favorable recommendation to the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to replace David Souter on the Supreme Court. Her name will now be sent to the full Senate, where she will be confirmed next week.
The vote was 13 – 6, with Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) joining the 12 Democratic Senators in voting yes.
The vote of the full Senate is expected next week. Our poll had her vote total at 70. The final vote total is probably the only thing unknown right now. So far, only 5 Republicans have announced that they are voting yes. Besides Graham (SC), Susan Collins (ME), Olympia Snowe (ME), Mel Martinez (FL) and Richard Lugar (IN) have indicated that they will vote in favor of the nomination.
BTW, Republicans have held up all of Obama’s judicial nominations and all Justice Department nominations for the last 3 month. What happened to “up or down vote?”