To the Editor:
In response to a question about abortion rights, Judge Sonia Sotomayor testified that she “was asked no questions by anyone, including the president, about my views on any specific legal issue.” It’s distressing that the administration did not probe the candidate’s views on the most troubling legal controversy of the last 35 years. Without asking pointed questions, how can a pro-choice president satisfy himself and his constituents that he isn’t nominating a candidate with regressive views on this touchstone issue?
If, on the other hand, the president really has inside information that Judge Sotomayor is a full supporter of a woman’s right to choose, then that information should be disclosed to the world and the Senate. Citizens on both sides of this controversy have the right to know whom we’re getting.
Gregory Schwed
New York, July 16, 2009
The writer is a lawyer.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 