| It wasn't too long after President Barack Obama said that his nominee for the Supreme Court would be Sonia Sotomayor that the Republicans started attacking. It is interesting that they have chosen to attack someone who was once appointed by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican, to serve on the U.S. District Court, where she served before being named by President Bill Clinton to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals.
Conservatives have compared Sotomayor to Harriet Miers, an insult considering Miers never was a judge and didn't come close to having the educational background that Sotomayor does. Sotomayor attended undergrad at Princeton, where she graduated summa cum laude, and graduated from Yale Law School. She also served in the Manhattan District Attorney's office, private practice and ended has served as a federal judge since 1991. All Miers amounted to was a Bush friend and political hire who was not qualified to become a Supreme Court justice. The same cannot be said of Sotomayor.
The other attacks from conservatives target Sotomayor's ethnicity. This isn't new. These are the same people who have used hate against Hispanics to make the case against immigration. They have also called her dumb, even though she has the same education (and comparable experience) that Samuel Alito possessed when he was nominated by Bush for the Supreme Court.
It is one thing to oppose Sotomayor for intelligent reasons. It is another to oppose her because of some belief that she isn't intelligent or because she is a Hispanic woman. The Republicans have lost the last two elections because of their constant hate-filled politics and attacks. They will lose this fight (if you can call it a fight) if they continue down the same road.
Appointing a Supreme Court justice has never been easy. But Sotomayor has faced Senate scrutiny before. In 1998, she was confirmed by the Senate to serve on the Appeals Court. She received the support of 67 senators from both parties and was opposed by 29 senators, all of whom were Republicans. Among the Republicans that supported her in 1998 are the following senators who are still serving:
- Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT)
- Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS)
- Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)
- Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH)
- Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
- Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN)
- Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
Sen. Arlen Specter, who was a Republican at the time, also voted in favor of Sotomayor.
Why is this important? Because the seven senators who are still Republicans now obviously saw something in Sotomayor that impressed them enough to promote her to the Court of Appeals. While their votes may or may not be needed (the Democrats could have the 60th vote they need this summer if Al Franken gets seated), having Republicans on board will be refreshing and show that the whole Republican Party is not hate-filled, even though the loud mouths that they put on TV and in print are.
Sotomayor is very qualified for this post. She has a very impressive resume and has been mentioned for years now as a possible pick for the Supreme Court. The Republicans will not benefit from targeting her unless they target her on issues. But if they target her because she is a woman, Hispanic and continue to claim she is dumb, they will continue to fall into a deep pit that they will not recover from. |
