CNBC Interview With Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY)

Interview

CNBC Interview With Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY)

Subjects: Judge Sonia Sotomayor, Economy

Interviewers: Bill Griffeth, Hampton Pearson, Dennis Kneale, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera

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MR. GRIFFETH: Let's go to the top story, of course, of the day right now, President Obama nominating Federal Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor to be on the Supreme Court.

Our Hampton Pearson is outside the White House with the latest on that whole story there.

Hampton?

MR. PEARSON: Hi, Bill. Inside the White House Briefing Room where, among other things, history was made even with the nomination this morning. If Judge Sotomayor is confirmed, she becomes the first Latino and third woman to serve on the nation's highest court and the actual announcement ceremony sort of noting the historic moment prompted cheers as the vice president and president entered the room together for that official announcement. Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the president's choice to replace retiring David Souter and the president really wasted very little time in beginning to make the political case why she should be confirmed.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA (From video.): Walking in the door, she would bring more experience on the bench and more varied experience on the bench than anyone currently serving on the United States Supreme Court had when they were appointed.

MR. PEARSON: Now, that judicial experience was gained through a 1991 appointment by President George H.W. Bush to the federal bench, then elevation to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals by President Clinton in the late '90s. Her resume includes a stint in the New York District Attorney's Office. She's a Yale Law School grad.

Now, conservative critics are already weighing in. Judge Sotomayor is, quote, "a liberal judicial activist of the first order," says Wendy Long, legal counsel to the Judicial Confirmation Network.

JUDGE SOTOMAYOR (From videotape.): I strive never to forget the real world consequences of my decisions on individuals, businesses and government.

MR. PEARSON: Now, from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a more of a wait and see approach. It will get involved in evaluating this nominee, but also saying it's going to focus on the nominee's views on business and how her rulings will affect the life of the economy going forward.

Bill?

MR. GRIFFETH: Hampton, thank you very much, and, of course, we've been getting a full spectrum of response from members of the Senate who will have to confirm her nomination and most especially from members of the Judiciary Committee, which will be holding hearings on all of that. And we welcome the senior Senator from New York, Charles Schumer, who sits on the Judiciary Committee. He's in New York today.

Senator, good to see you again. Welcome back.

SEN. SCHUMER: Good to be back with you.

MR. GRIFFETH: I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you support Judge Sotomayor's nomination.

SEN. SCHUMER: I do.

MR. GRIFFETH: Yes?

SEN. SCHUMER: I do. I recommended her to the president about a month ago.

MS. CARUSO-CABRERA: What experience does she have when it comes to the business world? And what effect will she have on the economy or key decisions related to, say, Wall Street, which is, of course, part of your constituency?

SEN. SCHUMER: Well, I'd say two things; first, she's been a moderate through and through. If you look at her decisions, the Second Circuit is involved in many business decisions and her decisions are moderate. Ninety-five percent of the time when she was in a three-judge panel, that's how they do it on the Court of Appeals with a Republican appointee, she agreed with them.

So on business issues, she has been moderate and a second thing I think that's important, business runs into trouble when people sort of have an ivory tower approach, whether on the far right or far left. She has a practical approach given her background where she's been and that tends to make her understanding of the problems that real world people, businesses, she mentioned it in her speech face.

MR. KNEALE: Senator Schumer, you know, some people think that real world experience, it should be legal precedent and legal scholar points that you should base your opinions on. Now, the conservatives have already come up with a sound bite of hers, right, you've heard it no doubt, "I would hope that a wise Latino woman, she says, with the rich use of her experiences could reach a better conclusion than a white male."

Do you anticipate any problem from that kind of a comment? And also do you think any white males in the Democratic Senate would have any problems with that?

SEN. SCHUMER: Well, I'm one of them. I don't. But here's what I think what she was saying. Rule of law comes first and that's what her career shows. Rule of law comes first no matter what background you're in, but sometimes your experiences as long as rule of law is followed shape that and we all know that. We certainly don't want nine people on the Supreme Court with ice water running through their veins. We want them to understand rule of law and the real world and she does understand both. Her record shows both. So that makes her a great combination.

I think that sometimes you worry about people who have been in the ivory tower their whole life, have never had to do anything and that leads to wacky decisions on the right and on the left.

MR. GRIFFETH: You know already, sir, the pundits are out as you can imagine, some of the folks who have a lot of time on their hands, really thinking about this and have been thinking about this and one that I've read says that the president may use her as a lightning rod to take some of the heat off of other issues that are very important to him like the health care legislation he wants to put through and the energy legislation.

I guess what I'm asking is, prioritized, do you feel that the Republicans will be willing to go with her nomination or are they going to hold her up for a while?

SEN. SCHUMER: Well, I think it's going to be hard for any Senator, Democrat or Republican, given her broad legal experience, her moderate views and her compelling life story to vote against her and I would predict at the end of the day, she's going to get, not only just about every Democrat, but a large number of Republicans as well. Let's face it, even in 1998 when the Republican leadership of the Senate was against her nomination, I think mainly because they didn't want President Clinton in his final years to put people on the bench, 23 Republicans in the Senate voted with her and she passed overwhelmingly.

MS. CARUSO-CABRERA: Senator Schumer while we have you here, we'd like to ask how is it going with the budget negotiations and these concerns about what's going to happen with the tax structure here in the United States, especially when it comes to a lot of New Yorkers who end up, by default, being in the upper income bracket simply because of geography. Any progress on that front? Are they going to face higher taxes?

SEN. SCHUMER: I'd say this. Job number one is to get us out of this economic mess that we're in, and that means getting some money into the hands of middle class people into the hands of businesses so that the pump can be primed. Once that happens, we're going to have to be fiscally more austere and worry about the deficit, but the best way to get the deficit back in order is to get the economy moving. If economic growth is a 2.5 percent rather than 2 percent, that will reduce the deficit more than any tax increase or spending cut.

MR. GRIFFETH: Senator Schumer, we know you have to run and we appreciate your time, sir. Thanks for being with us.

SEN. SCHUMER: Thank you. Nice to talk to you and have a great week.

MR. GRIFFETH: You, too. Thanks. Chuck Schumer there of New York.

END.

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