As Holly already pointed out, President Obama will go before the nation this morning and officially nominate Sonia Sotomayor from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, to the United States Supreme Court. Assuming she is seated, this would make Justice Sotomayor the first Hispanic justice and only the third woman to take one of these seats. It looks to me as if Obama has taken a quite predictable path and is openly laying a bear trap in front of the Republican Party which they may not be able to avoid.
Just the optics alone of this pick and the current political climate make this a pretty strong play for Obama. Of the entire short list, this was probably the one which would enrage the GOP base the most and that may well be exactly what Obama wants. Do Republicans really want to mount a battle which they are almost certain to lose against any nominee from Obama? This case in particular is especially problematic for the GOP though, they’ve been taking a beating at the ballot box and Republican strategists are increasingly alarmed over how poorly they are doing with the quickly swelling ranks of Hispanic voters. Do they honestly want to wage a battle to keep the first Hispanic candidate ever off of the bench? Not to mention that fact that they would probably lose anyway?
Republicans may also have a bit of trouble justifying their opposition given the fact that they’ve had plenty of opportunities to object to her before now. According to FindLaw, she’s been making the rounds since 1977. Her first Federal appointment came from that well-known icon of liberal Democratic politics… George H.W. Bush. She did face some opposition from Republicans in 1997, but in the end it all came to naught.
She was finally confirmed by the Senate on a 68-28 vote, with some senior Republicans like Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Orrin Hatch of Utah, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire and Richard Lugar of Indiana supporting her. But among those voting against her was Sessions, a key player in shaping how the GOP will handle Obama’s nominee.
Our friend Ed Morrissey over at Hot Air seems to feel that the judge will be seated, but quotes some sources who are concerned over how liberal she is and, of course, the usual cries of foul over her being a “liberal activist judge.” One source he points to is Wendy Long from National Review. And to oppose her, Ms. Long invokes the specter of … wait for it…. yep. You guessed it. Apparently Sonia Sotomayor disrespects the victims and heroes of 9/11.
She reads racial preferences and quotas into the Constitution, even to the point of dishonoring those who preserve our public safety. On September 11, America saw firsthand the vital role of America’s firefighters in protecting our citizens. They put their lives on the line for her and the other citizens of New York and the nation. But Judge Sotomayor would sacrifice their claims to fair treatment in employment promotions to racial preferences and quotas.
She’s talking about the firefighter decision which you’ll be hearing a lot about in the weeks to come. She also makes the claim that Sotomayer has “an extremely high rate of her decisions being reversed” but, like Ed, I would like to see some references on that. Thus far I’m seeing two reversals on FindLaw dating back more than 18 years. I’m not sure if that qualifies as a “high rate” or not, but there may be more which aren’t showing up in search.
In any event, it looks like red meat trying to tempt the Republicans into a fight they don’t appear to have much of a chance to win and could take an additional beating on the national level if they try. Either way, I expect that Ms. Sotomayor will be our next member of The Supremes and the only interesting bits will be in the details as the nomination makes its way forward. She’s only in her early fifties, so once seated she may be a loud, constant liberal voice on the highest court for decades to come.