Sotomayor Confirmation Hearings Filled with Denials and Disruptions

Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor biggest problems have come from two voices, her own from the past and pro-life spectators.

WASHINGTON (Catholic Online) - For the third time in two days, a pro-life demonstrator disrupted the proceedings from the spectator seating area in the Senate Hearings Room of the Hart Senate Building. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor also had to face her own voice from the past, denying that she was not making racist or gender-biased comments.

In responding to a question by Republican Senator Jeff Sessions, Sotomayor said that her play-on-words had fell flat and she was not inferring that "wise Latina woman" would be a better judge than a white male.

The Alabama Senator was not impressed, however. "As a judge who has taken this oath," he declared, "I am very troubled that you would repeatedly over a decade or more make statements" like that.

Three times during the hearings, pro-life protesters in the spectators area have disrupted the hearings, shouting such things as "What about abortion?" and "Abortion is murder."

One of the protesters arrested on Monday, the first day of hearings, was Norma McCorvey, who was the plaintiff "Jane Roe" in Roe vs Wade. She has since become a Christian, converted to the Catholic faith and dedicated her life to work for the cause of life.

The protesters were all a part of a group headed by Randall Terry, the founder of Operation Rescue and a long-time pro-life champion. Terry has spent the last two days in front of the Hart Building talking with reporters and answering media calls.

In recent months, Terry has re-doubled his efforts to make sure the message of life is heard as the new administration takes us deeper into the culture of death.

The disruption of the Sotomayor hearings for the cause of life seem to indicate that those who desire to give a voice to those who have none - the unborn and infirm - are looking at different ways to bring the message to public attention.

With most media outlets walking in lockstep with the current administration, the pro-life message is being either ignored or vilified. Pro-life leaders, in addition to Terry's group, are all examining how to communicate in the hostile climate that exists, especially around the Washington Beltway and in other Urban centers.

The confirmation of Sotomayor, a Catholic, will put another pro-choice voice among the nine justices. She made it clear in her testimony that she accepted as "settled" the current U.S. law permitting abortion, but did not announce her personal position on abortion rights nor how she would rule in future cases.

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Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online. He lives in the Washington, DC Metroplex and covers many events in the Nation's Capital

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