Sotomayor’s health: No one asked

During this week’s Judiciary Committee hearings, no senator asked Judge Sonia Sotomayor about her health. It would have been a legitimate area of inquiry, an expert told the Minnesota Independent, because Sotomayor’s Type I diabetes could shorten her life expectancy, and thus her time on the bench. A legal historian tells the Los Angeles Times it’s been 140 years since a Supreme Court nominee had such a serious medical condition — and he didn’t live to his swearing-in.

Like Sotomayor, Edward D. Stanton came from a humble background (and like her or not, he was also, by one account, “determined and imperious, devious but devoted, self-centered and self-confident, quick to judge and condemn, irritable and irascible”).

Stanton is best known for serving as President Lincoln’s secretary of war during the Civil War (he called Lincoln a”gorilla” upon his election but soon turned loyal; he famously tried to stop the president from attending Ford’s Theater the night of Lincoln’s assassination.)

President Grant named Stanton to the Supreme Court in 1869 despite the nominee’s asthma and a heart condition. The U.S. Senate confirmed him, but Stanton died four days later.

Observers say as long as Sotomayor manages her diabetes well, it may not mean a shorter life or term on the bench.