King Statement on Sotomayor Senate Hearings

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Steve King (R-IA), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, today made the following statement on Senate hearings of Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the United States Supreme Court.

“Supreme Court decisions have effectively amended our Constitution regularly and with impunity for decades. Nearly all of the social conflict in this country stems from the Court’s extra-constitutional interference with the voice of the people. The very last people in America who should be amending the Constitution are the Supreme Court justices. The Supreme Court is charged with interpreting the Constitution, but instead its recent activism has amended it.

“The American public needs to know if Judge Sotomayor will put her liberal policy preferences above neutral application of the law. America does not need another justice who decides cases based on personal experiences and personal political opinions rather than on the clear text of the Constitution. We need to know if Judge Sotomayor will adhere to our Constitution, not diverge from it and legislate from the bench.

“Of the ten Sotomayor decisions considered by the Supreme Court, eight have been reversed or vacated and another was harshly criticized. The majority of the Supreme Court agreed with her rationale just one time. Too much is at stake to confirm a judge who is, according to the Supreme Court, wrong 90 percent of the time.”