13 seconds ago 2009-12-09T03:30:01-08:00
Not true: That was Sonia Sotomayor's reaction to a claim by a former associate who said he could guarantee that she supports abortion rights.
"I know for a fact I never spoke to him about my views on abortion," Sotomayor said when GOP Sen. John Cornyn read the quote from George Pavia, partner in the law firm she once worked for. "I have no idea why he was drawing that conclusion because if you looked at my record, I have ruled in terms of the law" on abortion.
She also said no White House official, not even the president, has ever directly asked her where she personally stands on abortion.
Indeed, Sotomayor has not ruled in any cases that squarely confronted the right to abortion. As an appeals court judge she dismissed a challenge to the so-called global gag rule, deciding against an abortion rights group. But in her opinion she used the phrases "anti-abortion" and "pro-choice," typically used by the abortion rights side.
-Ron Fournier, AP Washington bureau chief
