Helms voted for Sotomayor in '98

Submitted by ryanteaguebeckwith on May 26, 2009 - 11:27am.
Tags: | | | | | |

Jesse HelmsPresident Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, has already received at least one "yes" vote from a North Carolina Republican — and that was from none other than former Sen. Jesse Helms.

Helms supported Sotomayor's nomination to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, a step below the highest court, back in 1998, according to Senate roll call records, Barb Barrett reports.

The state's other senator, Republican Lauch Faircloth, voted no.

The full vote was 67-29, with four senators not voting. Sotomayor had been nominated by then-President Bill Clinton.

You must be logged in to post a comment on this blog. If you already have an N&O online user account, click here to log in. Otherwise, click here to register (it's free!).

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

Re: Helms voted for Sotomayor in '98

Submitted by Gosh (not verified) on May 27, 2009 - 7:19pm.

It is important to note that Senator Helms' vote was before the controversial statements in the news that were made by Sotomayor.

No, it's important to note that had Jesse Helms lived in the YouTube generation like Sotomayor, he'd still be dead, but you never would have heard of him, although she'd still be the nominee for SCOTUS.

Sotomayor is a lock. She's in. Elections have consequences. To paraphrase Richard Burr from 2005, up or down Baby. Up or down.

» login to post comments

Re: Helms voted for Sotomayor in '98

Submitted by TarHeel2011 on May 26, 2009 - 3:27pm.

It is important to note that Senator Helms' vote was before the controversial statements in the news that were made by Sotomayor. Not to mention, if she already has a yes vote from Helms, does the no vote from Faircloth count?

» login to post comments