Sotomayor Clears First Hurdle Easily

The United States Judiciary Committee approved the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor for consideration by the whole Senate by a vote of 13 to 6 with all 12 Democrats voting in favor and all but one of the 7 Republicans voting against the nomination. The lone Republican endorsing Sotomayor was Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

The nomination should come to a full vote next week, before the Senate goes on a month-long summer holiday without passing a health care bill.

Interestingly, today MadProfessah will be spending some time with one of Sotomayor's rivals for the Supreme Court nomination, California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno. Moreno, you will recall is the only Democrat on the state Supreme Court and was also the only vote to strike down Proposition 8 on the Court. Despite that, Justice Moreno made it to President Obama's short list to fill the David Souter vacancy.