Never Mind Her Broken Ankle, Impatient GOP Senator Blows Off Sotomayor

Posted by Ian Millhiser, Think Progress at 7:34 AM on June 22, 2009.

Last Thursday, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) was scheduled to meet with Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Yet when Sotomayor was delayed because of her recent injury, Corker decided that he had more important things to do than to wait around for a potential lifetime appointee who is temporarily disabled:

Sen. Bob Corker blew off his meeting with Sonia Sotomayor last week. Hobbling along with her leg in a cast, she was 10 minutes late and he said he didn’t feel like waiting. “I decided to proceed on to the next meeting,” he told a Tennessee Press Association breakfast in Chattanooga.

Despite the fact that Senate conservatives had repeatedly vowed to give Sotomayor a “fair and respectful process” that gives her a “fair opportunity to provide full and complete answers” to any questions about her record, Corker is now the second GOP senator to refuse to meet with Judge Sotomayor. Last week, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) also blew off his meeting with Sotomayor and announced that he made up his mind vote against her nomination in 1998 -- eleven years before she was actually nominated.

Corker appears to be the first senator to refuse to deal with Sotomayor’s temporary disability. Most others have been quite accommodating. When Sotomayor met with the Louisiana delegation, for example, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) offered to sign Sotomayor’s cast. Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) offered the judge a bag of ice and a pillow to ease her broken ankle. Vitter told Sotomayor, “I hope you all note that some Republicans are empathetic, too.” Not all Republicans, apparently.

Tagged as: republicans, mary landrieu, david vitter, bob corker, sonia sotomayor, jim inhofe