Leahy and Franken Switch Seats

By Kathleen Hunter | July 15, 2009 3:48 PM | | Comments (0)

It's the seventh hour of the third day of Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearing, and the senators are getting a little loopy.

Shortly after the panel reconvened following a closed-door session this afternoon, Chairman Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., briefly swapped seats with the panel's most-junior member, Minnesota Democrat Al Franken.

Franken, who has been a member of the Senate for nine days, offered his seat to the chairman because the microphone at Leahy's seat was not working, prompting a moment of levity during the weighty proceedings.

As Franken slid into the chairman's seat, ranking Republican Jeff Sessions of Alabama quipped, "That's the quickest rise of any senator in history."

Leahy quickly reclaimed his seat - and newly functional microphone - to formally launch the second round of questioning of Sotomayor. During the renewed questioning, each senator will be allocated 20 minutes.

The closed-door session, during which senators reviewed the results of an FBI background check on the nominee, was brief. It lasted slightly more than 20 minutes.

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Categories: Supreme Court

Tags: Franken, Leahy, Sotomayor

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