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U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar told the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting today that her office’s evaluation of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is being done by “unpaid interns and volunteers in Minnesota.” Updated after the jump.
“I have no committee staff,” Klobuchar explained. But despite relying on pro bono assistance, she said she would have no problem being ready to question Sotomayor next month.
(Klobuchar has complained that her paid staff is stretched thin covering the work of two senators while her former Republican colleague, Norm Coleman, contests election results showing challenger Al Franken, a Democrat, defeated him by 312 votes.)
Klobuchar’s comments today came amid a testy discussion of the committee’s schedule for hearings into Sotomayor’s nomination. Republicans protested a decision by the chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy, to begin July 13. “We have to sound like two squabbling spouses,” Sen. John Kyl said of the debate.
Klobuchar said the time between nomination and the start of committee hearings was about average as compared to the nomination processes for the sitting justices on the court.
“I simply don’t understand why we can’t get this done,” Klobuchar said, adding that Leahy’s date would “give this woman time to get ready to serve on the court in the fall.”
UPDATE: Klobuchar’s office contacted MnIndy with her full quote, which includes a reference to a legal staffer who assists the senator with judiciary committee matters:
“I have no committee staff, I have one Judiciary counsel. We are very interested in doing a good job here, in representing our state and asking good questions, and we’re in the course of reviewing all of her opinions with unpaid interns and volunteers in Minnesota. And I don’t’ think it’s going to be a problem to make that deadline.”
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4 Comments »
Comment posted June 11, 2009 @ 11:38 pm
It’s certainly an undercovered story that some Republicans blocked the Democrats’ attempt to assign more staff to her, so her constituent service workload doubled.
Comment posted June 12, 2009 @ 9:51 am
So what if she is using unpaid volunteers? Amy is going to vote for the leftist racist judge appointed by the leftist president because she is a faithful party hack. She essentially states that in the last line of the article.
Comment posted June 12, 2009 @ 10:24 am
If I were brainwashed in the sick & twisted world of “government knows best”, my research would already be done on Sotomayor. Sotomayor will do a geeat job ignoring the rule of law in favor of making wise decisions based on empathy and the new fairness opperating mechanism. Clearly laws written 240 years ago have no place in today’s modern world. Get with the program.
Comment posted June 12, 2009 @ 2:48 pm
The work of unpaid interns and volunteers is not synonymous with sloppy or inaccurate work. Volunteers and unpaid interns are every bit as capable as paid staff worker – and are not motivated by a paycheck. Volunteers donate a wide range of skills and talents to our nation, from the mundane to the highly credentialed professional. If an agency needs and desires a volunteer or unpaid intern that is capable of producing high-quality work efficienty, one simply has to investigate and test applicants (the same as one would for paid applicants). It is high time we have had this discussion.
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