WASHINGTON, DC -With the U.S. Senate poised to confirm the Supreme Court nomination of Sonia Sotomayor, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), who will vote in favor of her nomination, today strongly endorsed her as a jurist who would "make history as only the third female justice and the first Hispanic justice. Moreover, she has more federal judicial experience than any nominee to the Court in 100 years."
In remarks on the floor of the U.S. Senate, Reed stated:

"Judge Sotomayor is extremely qualified for this role. As a Supreme Court Justice, Judge Sotomayor would bring to bear her rich and varied real-world experience. She has been a big-city prosecutor. She has been an attorney in private practice. She has been a trial judge, and she also knows what it means to be an appellate judge. Yet as compelling as these qualities and accomplishments are, there is a higher bar for nominees to the nation's highest court. It is a simple test, one drawn from the text, the history, and the principles of the Constitution. A nominee to the Supreme Court must live up to the spirit of the Constitution. A nominee must not only commit to enforcing the laws, but to doing justice. A nominee must give life and meaning to the great principles of the Constitution: equality before the law, due process, freedom of conscience, individual responsibility, and the expansion of opportunity.

"In my view, Judge Sotomayor has met this test. Her opinions demonstrate that she is no ideologue—instead, she seeks to carefully weigh the facts in determining the just and fair outcome.

"Judge Sotomayor would be an able successor to Justice Souter, on a Court that has in recent years taken a sharp turn away from protections of privacy, freedom, and other values that we hold dear.

"Judge Sotomayor's careful application of the facts to the Constitution in the quest for justice persuade me that she will make a worthy addition to our nation's highest court. Indeed, she meets my test as someone who will not only uphold the letter of the law but the spirit of the law, and it is with great pleasure that I support her nomination to the highest court in the land. I urge my colleagues to do the same."

The full Senate will vote on Judge Sotomayor's nomination at 3 p.m. EDT today.