Pitt Professor Says Sotomayor Confirmation Almost Certain: GOP Should Use Hearings to Discuss Role of Courts

PITTSBURGH-With President Obama's announcement of Judge Sonia Sotomayor as his choice to fill the seat to be vacated when Justice Souter retires, the attention now focuses on the U.S. Senate's confirmation process.

"It's almost certain that Judge Sotomayor will be confirmed, so the sensible thing for the Republicans to do is to use the debates and the hearings to get a public airing of their concerns about judges who override the results of the democratic process," says Arthur Hellman, University of Pittsburgh professor of law.

Pitt Sally Ann Semenko Endowed Chair, Hellman has achieved a national reputation as a federal courts scholar. He is one of the leading academic commentators on issues of federal judicial ethics and is the nation's leading academic authority on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the largest of the federal appellate courts. Hellman's studies on the operation of precedent in the U.S. Supreme Court and the courts of appeals have been used as a basis for policy decisions at both the federal and state levels.

Over the years, Hellman has testified as an invited witness at hearings of the Judiciary Committees in the House and the Senate. His testimony has focused on legislative issues related to the federal courts, including the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, the structure of the federal courts of appeals, federal judicial discipline, unpublished appellate opinions, and the constitutionality of legislative restrictions on the powers of the federal courts. He received public recognition from leading members of the House Judiciary Committee for his work in helping to draft the Judicial Improvements Act of 2002, the current version of the law that governs the handling of misconduct complaints against federal judges.

Among the articles and books Hellman has written are two casebooks, Federal Courts: Cases and Materials on Judicial Federalism and the Lawyering Process (LexisNexis, 2d ed. 2009), with Lauren Robel and David R. Stras, and First Amendment Law: Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Religion (LexisNexis/Matthew Bender, 2006), with William D. Araiza and Thomas E. Baker.

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5/26/09/amm