--- title: Marco Rubio Hammers Chris Christie Over Sotomayor Nomination description: The White House hopeful uses a seven-year-old quote against Republican rival as he cam,paigns in New Hampshire. canonical: https://time.com/4182496/republican-debate-marco-rubio-chris-christie-sonia-sotomayor/ author: Philip Elliott article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-15T16:43:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T20:23:10.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Marco Rubio Hammers Chris Christie Over Sotomayor Nomination og:description: The White House hopeful finds a seven-year-old quote to use against rival og:url: https://time.com/4182496/republican-debate-marco-rubio-chris-christie-sonia-sotomayor/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf4cdda7b842ff0e/6988795aa988ca386e6b6247/debate-rubio-christie.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: Republican U.S. presidential candidate Christie and Rubio speak simultaneously during the Fox Business Network Republican presidential candidates debate in North Charleston og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Marco Rubio Hammers Chris Christie Over Sotomayor Nomination twitter:description: The White House hopeful finds a seven-year-old quote to use against rival twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf4cdda7b842ff0e/6988795aa988ca386e6b6247/debate-rubio-christie.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Marco Rubio Hammers Chris Christie Over Sotomayor Nomination > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=0d2012bb-e3e8-4210-8e66-e89abf9fd74f&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: FOX January GOP Debate in Under 4 minutes [Watch (HLS stream): FOX January GOP Debate in Under 4 minutes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/43Jv4tOR.m3u8) (3:59)  _Published 2016-01-15. GOP DEBATE 011416: The FOX January GOP Debate in Under 4 minutes_  by [Philip Elliott / Derry, N.H.](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott / Derry, N.H. Senior Correspondent Updated: Dec 13, 2023 8:23 PM UTCPublished: Jan 15, 2016 4:43 PM UTC  by [Philip Elliott / Derry, N.H.](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott / Derry, N.H. Senior Correspondent Updated: Dec 13, 2023 8:23 PM UTCPublished: Jan 15, 2016 4:43 PM UTC [Marco Rubio’s rivalry with Chris Christie](http://time.com/4171247/chris-christie-marco-rubio-adele/) is escalating, with the first-term Senator from Florida on Friday using the New Jersey Governor’s own statements in support of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor against him. The morning after [the first debate of 2016](http://time.com/4182083/republican-debate-donald-trump-nasty/?xid=homepage), Rubio told supporters in Derry, N.H., that he would only nominate judges who would promise a strict reading of the Constitution. Rubio said that put him at odds with Christie, one of his chief rivals in New Hampshire. “One of the things the President is going to do is nominate Supreme Court Justices, maybe as many as four,” Rubio told his crowd. “We need to appoint Supreme Court Justices that understand that the Constitution is not a living, breathing document. It is supposed to be interpreted and applied as originally intended.” Rubio held up Sotomayor as an example of a judge he would not nominate. Christie has firmly denied he ever backed President Obama’s nomination of Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. “I didn’t voice support for Sonia Sotomayor,” he told CBS’ _Face the Nation_ last weekend. He repeated that during Thursday night’s debate on Fox Business Network. “Let’s set the facts straight. First of all, I never supported Sonia Sotomayor.” On Friday morning, he was again saying he never backed Sotomayor. “What I said about Sonia Sotomayor was that she deserved an up or down vote, but that she was not the type of Justice I would select if I were President. That’s hardly supporting someone, that’s just saying someone should get an up or down note,” he told MSNBC’s Morning Joe. Rubio was ready to keep hammering him over Sotomayor, whom Christie has also said would not have been his first choice for a nominee. “He’s saying I’m not telling the truth. Let me tell you, I have what he said. Let me read it,” Rubio said, pulling a page from his slacks that included Christie’s comments from 2009. “I support her appointment to the Supreme Court and urge the Senate to keep politics out of the process and confirm her nomination,” Christie was quoted as saying almost seven years ago. “Sounds like support,” Rubio quipped. Christie’s campaign brushed off the attack. “This is another disingenuous attack by Rubio and he knows it,” Christie spokeswoman Samantha Smith said. The attack is set to become a staple of Rubio’s argument against Christie, not necessarily because of its content but because it gives Rubio’s campaign a chance to paint Christie as shifty. As Rubio prepared to deliver the blow, his aides walked over to reporters to make sure they were paying attention. “I know he likes to argue with people about things, so I thought I’d let him debate himself,” Rubio joked to reporters later. The sniping between the pair comes as the race in New Hampshire is becoming a contest to be the leading [Not-Donald Trump](http://time.com/4170578/donald-trump-new-hampshire-second-place/) candidate. After yet another debate, that dynamic is playing out anew, with a crowded schedule along the populous New Hampshire-Massachusetts border. Several candidates are set to pass each other as they rush between events south of Manchester, New Hampshire. Rubio also is stepping up his barbs against fellow Sen. Ted Cruz. “We can’t just elect any Republican,” Rubio said of the Texas Republican. Speaking of his own crusade against the Democrats’ health care law, Rubio said he has worked to undermine the law through amendments, “not through a 23-hour speech.” He also criticized Cruz’s tax plan, which he said runs counter to the late President Ronald Reagan. The fight in New Hampshire is set to tilt full-out negative in the weeks ahead. Whereas Iowa’s caucuses value civility and “nice,” New Hampshire voters have a greater appetite for attacks. That helps to explain why Trump remains atop the polls here, and why the ads blanketing television have such a negative tone to them. “He has been very politically calculating,” Rubio said of Cruz as he left a rally at a Boy’s and Girl’s Club auditorium. “Time and again, he has shown he will change his positions out of political calculation.” Rubio’s bet is that voters won’t appreciate his choices. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] The next Commander in Chief is standing on this stage. On Tuesday night I watched story time with Barack Obama and I gotta tell you, it sounded like everything in the world was going amazing... Hillary Clinton would be a national security disaster. She wouldn't just be a disaster. Hilary Clinton is disqualified from being Commander and Chief of the United States. Well Maria, thank you for passing on that hit piece on the front page of the New York Times. [ APPLAUSE ] And the entire New York Times attack is that I disclosed that loan on one filing with the United States Senate that was a public filing, but it was not on a second filing with the FEC. Both of those filings were public. Ted Cruz And yes I made a paper work error disclosing it on one piece of paper instead of the other but if that's the best hit the New York Times has got they better go back to the well. On the issue of citizenship Donald I'm not going to use your mother's birth against you. Donald Trump >> In the last three polls I'm beating you so you shouldn't misrepresent how well your doing. I win I choose him as my vice presidential candidate and the Democrats sue because we can't take him along for the ride. I hate to interrupt this episode of Court Tv [ LAUGH ] but the real. I like Chris Christie, but we can not have a president of the United States that supports common core. We cannot afford to have a president of the United States that supports gun control [ APPLAUSE ] South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham is out of the race but he joins us tonight in the audience Is this America anymore? Do we still have standards? You know, we have a war on virtually everything. Race wars. gender wars, income wars. Every war you can imagine, we have people at each other's throats. And our strength is actually in our unity. I also want to recognize the people in that church that showed the grace of God, and the grace of forgiveness, and the mercy they showed. [ APPLAUSE ] i don't know if any of us could've done what they did, one after another, within 48 hours of that tragedy taking place. The guns don't pull the trigger, it's the people that pull the trigger [ APPLAUSE ] And we have to find out what is going on. The Second Amendment is not an option, because criminals don't buy their guns from a gun show. And let me tell you, ISIS and terrorists do not get their guns from a gun show. This [ APPLAUSE ] Everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal, are pro- abortion, are pro gay marriage, focus around money and the media. Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan. I'm just saying. [ LAUGH ] When the World Trade Center came down I saw something that no place on Earth could've handled more beautifully, more humanly than New York and everybody in the world watched and everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorker's and I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made. [ APPLAUSE ] I said from the beginning That we should take no Syrian refugees of any kind. If we do not know who you are and we do not know why you are coming, when I am President, you are not getting into the United States of America. [ APPLAUSE ] This was a question on entitlements [ CROSSTALK ]. [ APPLAUSE ] Oh, I'll ask the entitlement question [ CROSSTALK ]. And the reason. No, you're. Already had your chance, Mark, and you blew it. But here's the thing. If I become President, I couldn't care less about my company. It's peanuts. I have Ivanka and Eric and Don sitting there. Run the company, kids. Have a good time. I'm gonna do it for America. [ APPLAUSE ] I saw you on the Senate floor flip your vote on crop insurance cuz they told you it would help you in Iowa. And last week, we all saw you flip your vote on ethanol in Iowa. [ APPLAUSE ] Iowa, for the same reason. That is not consistent conservatism. That is political calculation. This last back- and- forth between two sen -, two back bench senators. You know, it explains why we have the mess in Washington, D. C. We need a president that will fix our immigration laws and stick with it, not bend with the wind. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4182496/republican-debate-marco-rubio-chris-christie-sonia-sotomayor/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4182496/republican-debate-marco-rubio-chris-christie-sonia-sotomayor/"},"headline":"Marco Rubio Hammers Chris Christie Over Sotomayor Nomination","datePublished":"2016-01-15T16:43:31.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T20:23:10.000Z","description":"'I know he likes to argue with people about things, so I thought I’d let him debate himself'","url":"https://time.com/4182496/republican-debate-marco-rubio-chris-christie-sonia-sotomayor/","keywords":["Chris Christie","Supreme Court","2016 Election","Sen. 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