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Sotomayor: Judge's job is to apply the law

WASHINGTON, July 13 (UPI) -- A judge's job is to apply the law not make new law, U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor told the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Monday.

Republican after Republican on the panel hammered at some of her comments as evidence she is an activist judge with a liberal agenda and whose empathy for one group or another translates to prejudice against others.

"Throughout my 17 years on the bench, I have witnessed the human consequences of my decisions," Sotomayor said in her opening statement. "Those decisions have been made not to serve the interests of any one litigant, but always to serve the larger interest of impartial justice."

Since President Barack Obama announced her as his choice in May to replace Justice David Souter on the bench, Sotomayor said many senators have asked her judicial philosophy.

"It's simple: fidelity to the law," she told the committee. "The task of a judge is not to make the law -- it is to apply the law. "

She said she believed her record in the federal district court and the federal appellate court "reflects my rigorous commitment to interpreting the Constitution according to its terms ... and hewing faithfully to precedents established by the Supreme Court and my Circuit Court. In each case I have heard, I have applied the law to the facts at hand."

Adjudicating is enhanced when arguments and concerns of the parties in the case are understood and acknowledged, she said. Her opinions, she said, set out the law under challenge and why the challenge was accepted or rejected.

"That is how I seek to strengthen both the rule of law and faith in the impartiality of our justice system," she said. "My personal and professional experiences help me listen and understand, with the law always commanding the result in every case."

The hearing opened with a warning from the chairman and a challenge by the committee's top Republican.

"Let no one demean this extraordinary woman ... (or) her understanding of the constitutional duties she's faithfully performed for the last 17 years," Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said in opening the hearing.

Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the committee's ranking Republican, bluntly laid out his concerns about Sotomayor's qualifications to be an associate justice, raising questions about whether she would be impartial if confirmed.

He said the U.S. legal system was "at a crossroads" between "judges impartially applying the law ... and judges (pushing) forward their political and social agenda."

Graham: Barring meltdown, Sotomayor in

WASHINGTON, July 13 (UPI) -- Unless she falls apart, Judge Sonia Sotomayor will be confirmed as a U.S. Supreme Court justice, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Monday.

"Now, unless you have a complete meltdown, you're going to get confirmed," Graham said during the first day of Sotomayor's confirmation hearings.

While her confirmation seems assured, he said, aspects of her record on and off the bench are troubling.

"(My) Republican colleagues who vote against you, I assure you, could vote for a Hispanic nominee," Graham said. "They just feel unnerved by your speeches and by some of the things that you've said and some of your cases."

But, he added, his point is that he will not hold it against her that she has opinions and positions differing from his own.

In Sotomayor, President Barack Obama nominated someone of good character, who has lived a very full and fruitful life and "who is passionate," Graham said.

"From Day 1, from the time you got a chance to showcase who you are, you've stood out and you've stood up and you've been a strong advocate and you will speak your mind," he said.

He then fretted about the tenor of recent confirmation hearings.

"(The) one thing I'm worried about is that if we keep doing what we're doing, we're going to deter people from speaking their mind," Graham said. "I don't want milk toast judges. I want you to be able to speak your mind, but you've got to understand that when you gave these speeches as a sitting judge, that was disturbing to me."

While saying he didn't know how he would vote, Graham conceded, "my inclination is that elections matter. And I'm not going to be upset with any of my colleagues who find that you're a bridge too far ... ."

Virginia killer scheduled for execution

JARRATT, Va., July 13 (UPI) -- The mother of a teenage girl killed by Paul Warner Powell says she is prepared to witness his execution at the Greensville Correctional Center in Virginia.

Lorraine Reed Whoberry said she wants the execution to take place despite the fact she has forgiven Powell for killing her 16-year-old daughter, Stacie Lynn Reed, and raping her 14-year-old daughter, Kristie, the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch said Monday.

"I've forgiven, but I've not forgotten," Whoberry said of Powell, who is scheduled to be executed in the electric chair Tuesday. "The journey that we're on now is awesome … but we have this execution hanging over our head."

Powell's first death sentence for the Jan. 29, 1999, killing was overturned by the Virginia Supreme Court in 2001. The court found there was not sufficient evidence to prove Powell had tried to rape or rob Staci Lynn Reed while trying to kill her.

The Times-Dispatch said Powell was later re-tried, convicted and sentenced to death after he wrote a letter to Prince William Commonwealth's Attorney Paul B. Ebert admitting he had tried to rape the teenage girl.

Heavy rainfall threatening Swedish dam

FALUN, Sweden, July 13 (UPI) -- Workers labored Monday to prevent a dam in Dalarna County, Sweden, from breaking because of heavy rainfall, a municipal safety coordinator said.

Safety coordinator Torbjorn Orr told the news agency TT with water levels at the dam in central Sweden rising during persistent weekend rainstorms, the dam was at risk of rupturing.

"The rain that previously fell in the forests has drained into Lake Ljustern and we don't know when it will culminate. That's what's a bit worrying," Orr said. Specifics regarding the emergency efforts were not reported.

People in the adjoining Sater Valley have been told to evacuate as a precaution as any flooding from the dam would threaten their homes.

An area road was closed off by the Swedish Road Administration due to being partially submerged and an increased threat of landslides, the TT news agency reported.

Weekend rainfall also left more than 100 homes in Dalsland and southern Varmland flooded, prompting the involvement of emergency personnel.

Jackson fans gather at London's O2

LONDON, July 13 (UPI) -- Michael Jackson's fans gathered Monday outside London's O2 arena where the late U.S. pop star was set to begin his series of comeback concerts.

The BBC said about 600 people, including some King of Pop impersonators, are sitting vigil at the arena, while others are being encouraged via Jackson fan Web sites and Facebook to bring flowers and candles to the informal tribute.

Jackson was scheduled to perform 50 concerts during a sold-out residency at the arena, starting Monday. He died June 25 of a cardiac arrest after a suspected prescription drug overdose. He was 50.

Copenhagen resident Jasper Haughton said he had been planning to watch Jackson perform during what was to be his opening night gig Monday.

"We should have been going to the concert but we're standing here instead," Haughton, who had tickets to the first five nights of Jackson's slated run at the O2, told the BBC. "It doesn't make any sense. ... We're here for grieving, but the main thing is a celebration of Michael."