Nearly 1,200 Law Professors Unite to Back Sotomayor Nomination to Supreme Court
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New York, July 8, 2009 -- Daniel Richman, professor of law at Columbia Law School, announced today that 1,181 law professors from across the country have signed a letter sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee in uncharacteristically unified support of the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The letter, which the Committee received today, concludes: “Judge Sotomayor will bring to the Supreme Court an extraordinary personal story, academic qualifications, remarkable professional accomplishments and much needed ethnic and gender diversity. We are confident that Judge Sotomayor’s intelligence, her character forged by her extraordinary background and experience, and her profound respect for the law and the craft of judging make her an exceptionally well-qualified nominee to the Supreme Court and we urge her speedy confirmation.”
Richman, a former chief appellate attorney and assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, is one of many legal scholars throughout the country who helped gather signatures. He said that getting signatories was easy, citing “broad support in law schools for this historic nomination.”
On the list are signatories from 49 states (Alaska does not have a law school). Richman noted that the group collectively embraces a wide spectrum of ideological and political viewpoints, including Stephen Carter, Edwin Chermerinsky, John Coffee Jr., Pamela Karlan, Arthur Miller, Laurence Tribe, Charles Ogletree, and Peter Schuck.
A complete list of the law schools represented can be found here. The complete text of the letter and list of signatories that was sent to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy and Ranking Member Sen. Jeff Sessions is available here.
Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, stands at the forefront of legal education and of the law in a global society. Columbia Law School joins its traditional strengths in international and comparative law, constitutional law, administrative law, business law and human rights law with pioneering work in the areas of intellectual property, digital technology, sexuality and gender, criminal, and environmental law.