By Zack Stovall
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said Thursday he has accepted invitation from the White House to testify for Judge Sonia Sotomayor at her Senate confirmation hearings that begin Monday.
McDaniel said he is scheduled to testify July 17.
“I praise her for her support of law enforcement, recognizing state sovereignty, her deferment to Congress and pre-existing policies. But I’ll be there primary for the defense of Sotomayor,” McDaniel said.
Last month, the Arkansas attorney general appeared on CNN to defend Sotomayor’s 2007 ruling in favor of the city of New Haven, Conn., in a lawsuit by white firefighters filed after the city threw out a test for promotions when no black firefighter scored high enough to qualify.
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the ruling by a three-judge federal appeals panel that included Sotomayor, saying the city’s actions discriminated against white firefighters.
McDaniel said Thursday that criticism of the judge over the reversal has been blown out of proportion and that the facts are “greatly distorted in the case.”
“The facts of the case are sensitive, hot button issues. But how she handled the matter was very routine and appropriate,” McDaniel said.
Asked if he was concerned about testifying on behalf of an appointee of a president who is unpopular in the state — President Obama received 39 percent of the vote in the November presidential election in Arkansas, McDaniel said politics should be left out of the process.
“Voters in Arkansas can be comfortable with my positions and opinions. I don’t think it makes a lot of difference one way or the other. I’m just honored to get to go to Washington and look forward to representing Arkansas there,” McDaniel said.
