Sotomayor Preps for Senate's Judgment

Meets with White House advisers; fills out questionnaire

WASHINGTON - Sonia Sotomayor, preparing for her first visit to the Senate since being nominated to the Supreme Court, met at the White House on Monday with administration lawyers who are working on her confirmation.

White House aides said Sotomayor was finalizing the answers to her Senate questionnaire and getting ready for one-on-one visits with key senators, part of the traditional rollout that precedes a nominee's formal confirmation hearings.

News photographers were allowed by the White House to take pictures of Sotomayor at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which is next to the West Wing of the White House. She was meeting with a handful of people from the White House counsel's office. No reporters were allowed in.

On Tuesday, Sotomayor is expected to visit top senators, including Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the panel's top Republican.

Aides said Sotomayor's White House meeting was one in a series of meetings she has had with staff members since President Obama announced her nomination to the Supreme Court last Tuesday. If confirmed by the Senate, she would replace Justice David Souter, who has announced his retirement.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us