Sonia Sotomayor gains GOP support

The Senate Judiciary Committee decided to delay their vote on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor by one week. Yet while some of the more conservative GOP senators appear to have reservations over her record, some moderate members have made up their minds.

Olympia Snowe (Maine) became the fourth Republican Senator to announce that she will back Sotomayor if (and most likely when) her bid for the top court is up for a full Senate vote. Collins praised Sotomayor’s judicial acumen and her legal experience in a statement released on Tuesday:

Collins said she knows that she will not agree with every decision Sotomayor will make as a member of the nation's highest court, but adds that she has "concluded that Judge Sotomayor understands the proper rule of a judge and is committed to applying the law impartially without bias or favoritism."

In a nod to the controversy surrounding Sotomayor's "wise Latina" comment, Collins said Tuesday that her "expectation is that Justice Sotomayor will adhere to Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's admonition that "a wise old woman and a wise old man would eventually reach the same conclusion in a case.'"

Collins joins fellow Olympia Snowe, Richard Lugar, and Cuban-American Sen. Mel Martinez in backing Sotomayor’s bid to be the first Latina justice on the Supreme Court.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Kentucky) and Sen. Roger Wicker (Mississippi) have already said that they would vote against Sotomayor. Nonetheless, she is expected to be confirmed easily by the Judiciary Committee and the whole Senate.

Image- CBS News
Online Sources- MSNBC, Boston.com, CNN