June 22, 2009
Private: ACS 2009 Convention: Sen. Amy Klobuchar
Judge Sotomayor, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Supreme Court
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a member of the Judiciary Committee, addressed a packed house at the 2009 ACS Convention, centering her comments on the qualifications of judges. During her speech, Klobuchar noted that Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor has "seventeen years of reasoned decisions," and brings more judicial experience to the High Court than any justice in many years.
Klobuchar also said criticisms of Sotomayor's temperament were unfounded.
"According to one news story about the topic, ‘the judge developed a reputation for asking tough questions at oral argument and for sometimes being curt with lawyers who were not prepared to answer them.' Now this sounds a little familiar to me. At least where I come from, asking tough questions and having very little patience for unprepared lawyers is the very definition of a judge. I was hoping that we would get to a point in this country where we could be appointing and confirming as many as rough and to-the-point female judges as we have appointed male judges.
"In the end we evaluate these judges based on their experience," Klobuchar continued. "Intellectual curiosity and independence, not rigidity, are the hallmarks of our best justices. And that's what we should be looking for in a good justice."
Video of Klobuchar's speech is available here.