In a June 4 article, the Associated Press again reported on Sen. Jeff Sessions' (R-AL) call to “go slower” in evaluating Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor's judicial record and set her confirmation hearing for the fall, citing her time on the bench, but did not note that Sessions reportedly called for completing Justice Samuel Alito's confirmation process within two months of his nomination, saying of Alito's record, “You don't have to read everything he's written.” The article, by Julie Hirschfeld Davis, reported that while Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) “wants the process to begin next month, with the goal of holding a confirmation vote before Congress leaves in early August,” Sessions “says he'd rather go slower in delving into Sotomayor's voluminous record, with hearings set for September.”

As Media Matters for America documented, a June 3 AP article, also by Hirschfeld Davis, reported that Sessions “says he'd rather go slower delving into Sotomayor's voluminous record of rulings during her 17 years as a federal judge, with hearings to be held in September.” However, as the Huffington Post's Sam Stein has noted, after President Bush announced Alito's nomination on October 31, 2005, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported in a November 4, 2005, article (accessed via the Nexis database) that Sessions “expressed impatience with the process” and quoted him saying: “My personal view is, let's finish it this year; let's not have it hanging out there. ...You don't have to read everything he's written.”

From the June 4 AP article:

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the Judiciary Committee chairman, wants the process to begin next month, with the goal of holding a confirmation vote before Congress leaves in early August for a monthlong summer vacation. He's negotiating with the top Republican on the committee, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, who says he'd rather go slower in delving into Sotomayor's voluminous record, with hearings set for September.