Supreme court judge ‘was not asked views on abortion’

US JUDGE Sonia Sotomayor said yesterday neither President Barack Obama nor anyone else in the administration asked her views on abortion rights before she was nominated for the Supreme Court.

“I was asked no question by anyone including the president about my views on any specific legal issue,” she said at the outset of a second day of questioning by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

She made her remark after Republican senator John Cornyn asked about a published report that administration officials have been seeking to reassure abortion rights groups concerned about her position on the issue.

Sotomayor, 55, is in line to become the first Hispanic to sit on the Supreme Court. Even Republicans concede she is on the way toward confirmation, barring a major gaffe.

Sotomayor sidestepped when Cornyn asked whether she stood by or disavowed a controversial 2001 remark that a “wise Latina” judge would often make better decisions than a white male.

She said she stood by her statement on Tuesday that the comment was a rhetorical flourish gone awry.

“I stand by the words, ‘It fell flat,’” she told Cornyn.

She said of the 2001 remarks: “I understand that some people have understood them in a way that I never intended. And I would hope that, in the context of the speech, that they would be understood.”

Cornyn persisted, asking whether she would regret if her audience of students understood her to be saying that the quality of a judge depended on race, gender or ethnicity.

“I would regret that,” she said.

Her response was essentially similar to remarks she made on Tuesday when first asked about the issue that has caused more pre-confirmation controversy than any other.

The cavernous Senate hearing room was filled for the third straight day, and tourists waited in line outside for their few moments as witnesses to history.

Inside, if there was little suspense about the ultimate outcome, senators pressed Sotomayor closely in their 30-minute turns questioning her about her rulings and her views.

Obama nominated the appeals court judge to replace Justice David Souter, who retired last month.

Over a career spanning nearly two decades, Souter emerged as a reliable member of the high court’s liberal bloc on issues such as abortion and affirmative action.

Because Sotomayor is widely seen as sharing his general views on those and other issues, her confirmation is not deemed likely to alter the balance of power on the court.

Under questioning,Sotomayor tried to take away one line of Republican attack when she distanced herself from the man who nominated her.

Asked whether she shared Obama’s view – stated when he was a senator – that in some cases, the key determinant is “what is in the judge’s heart”, Sotomayor said she did not.

“I wouldn’t approach the issue of judging in the way the president does,” she said.

“Judges can’t rely on what’s in their heart.

“They don’t determine the law. Congress makes the laws.

“The job of a judge is to apply the law.”