GOP Looks Tacky in Vote on Sotomayor

Senate Republicans locked arms against Sonia Sotomayor yesterday … or would have, if they’d bothered to stay for the Judiciary Committee’s vote. Instead, half ducked out, leaving Jeff Sessions to repeat “No by proxy,” over and over, writes Dana Milbank in the Washington Post. It was an ugly display of partisanship—though, as Orrin Hatch pointed out, Democrats started it by opposing justices Roberts and Alito.

As Chuck Grassley struggled to pronounce the nominee’s name—he tried “Soda-My-Ear” and “Soda-My-Err” before settling on “Soda-My-Air”—others thundered about wise Latinas or impartiality. Only Lindsey Graham, the lone GOP turncoat, looked good to Milbank. “The law should be a quiet place,” he said. “There’s something bigger going on in that courtroom than 50 plus one.” Sessions, Hatch, and Grassley looked guiltily away. (More Sonia Sotomayor stories.)