At the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on July 15, U.S. Senator Russ Feingold asked Judge Sonia Sotomayor about the pending U.S. Supreme Court case Citizens United v Federal Election Commission. That case will be re-argued on September 9, and concerns the interpretation and constitutionality of part of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. Specifically, the case concerns the ability of a corporation to advertise on TV or radio for its own movie, if that movie mentions a candidate for federal office within 60 days of a primary or a general election in which that candidate is running.

Senator Feingold asked, “Without addressing the specifics of the Citizen United case, I’d like to ask you what the Constitution and the Supreme Court’s precedents generally provide about the rights of corporations and what the current state of the law as far as corporate participation in elections is, as you understand it.”

Sotomayor replied, “If I were confirmed for the Court, it would be the first case that I would participate in. I think it would be inappropriate for me to do anything to speak about that area of the law because it would suggest that I’m going into that process with some prejudgment about what precedent says and what it doesn’t say and how to apply it in the open question the court is considering.” Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for the transcript of Sotomayor’s hearing on election law issues.