By Jennifer Pohlman, Student Editor
JoAnne Epps, dean of the Temple University Beasley School of Law, offered testimony on behalf of the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation. This was the first time that NAWL was invited to testify.
Justice Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court was confirmed Aug. 6, by a vote of 68-31 in the Senate. She is the third female and the first person of Hispanic descent to serve on the court.
Epps, who is co-chair of the Committee for the Evaluation of Supreme Court Nominees for NAWL, said the opportunity to testify in the confirmation hearings was quite unexpected.
“I had no expectation of being privileged to testify for a future Supreme Court of the United States justice,” she said. “Our committee conducted extensive reviews of Judge Sotomayor’s opinions and we interviewed more than 50 people. As it turned out, my co-chair was unavailable on the date of the hearings.”
Epps said that she had not even met Sotomayor until the day that she testified on behalf of her, but found her to be “quite personable and engaging.”
In her testimony, Epps offered unequivocal support for Justice Sotomayor, pointing to her intellectual capacity, judicial temperament and respect for the law as factors that influenced the committee’s recommendation. Additionally, Epps believes that the confirmation of Justice Sotomayor sends and important message to law firms, corporations, government and academia about breaking barriers to the advancement of female attorneys.
“She is obviously extremely well-qualified,” Epps said. “And her presence on the court will emphatically remind everyone – not just women – that women deserve to participate at the highest level of decision making in this country,”
Justice Sotomayor will begin hearing cases at the Supreme Court Sept. 9, when the Court will reconvene to hear a case on free speech and campaign finance laws.
