Richard Viguerie: All Issues at Sotomayor Confirmation Hearings Boil Down To One

(Manassas, Virginia) The following is a statement by Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, concerning the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings for President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor:


"Some Republican senators are finally hinting at the one issue that could dominate and make uniquely historic the Sotomayor hearings. As longtime Chicago-way Obama advisor David Axelrod said in a May 26, 2009 interview, the President nominated Sotomayor because 'he wanted someone whose philosophy of judging was his,' which was to 'adapt' - meaning change - 'constitutional principles and law.'


"That is a shocking admission of Obama's views, which go beyond judicial activism and undermine our constitutional structure based in separation of limited, enumerated powers.


"Judge Sotomayor's rulings, whether dealing with the 1st Amendment, 2nd Amendment, private property rights, criminal law, use of foreign law, race, equal protection, and other areas of law, demonstrate that she is consistently 'empathetic' in favor of government power.


"In her speeches, Sotomayor has said policy is made by the courts, which affirms her view shared with Obama that judges may and should make law. That, however, usurps the powers of the people's elected representatives.


"All senators have a serious, constitutional obligation to the American people to explore in great detail such a dangerous and radical view of judicial power, especially for Obama's first Supreme Court nominee.


"President Obama is a statist. The real debate is no longer whether he is a socialist, but whether his ideology is authoritarian. The views of judicial power shared by Obama and Sotomayor are inconsistent with the Constitution itself, and that should disqualify this nominee for the highest and in some cases last forum to protect individual rights and prevent authoritarian government, which America's founders feared.


"These hearings are an opportunity for Republicans to define Obama, which they and John McCain's campaign failed to do in the 2008 election."

NOTE TO EDITORS: Richard A. Viguerie pioneered political direct mail and has been called "one of the creators of the modern conservative movement" (The Nation magazine) and one of the "conservatives of the century" (The Washington Times).