Amid all the partisan sound bites about President Barack Obama’s nomination of U.S. Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court, this much seems certain.
*She is eminently qualified and has a compelling life story.
*She is left of center but hardly far left of center.
*She has a couple of quotes she would dearly love to have back, but in context, she’s
nobody’s quota queen or token ethnic.
*It will be awkward — at best — when the Supreme Court hears the high-profile, New
Haven firefighters’ (Ricci vs. DeStefano) reverse-discrimination case and likely
overturns a ruling she supported on the 2nd Circuit.
*The Republicans won’t filibuster her nomination. But they’ll go after her “Latina
woman” empathy and probably go overboard until a Judiciary Committee Democrat
reins them in with a reminder about Justice Samuel Alito’s testimony that referenced
his unique Italian roots. To wit: “When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think
about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic
background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that in account.”
*The Republicans will go hard at her decision on Ricci — and rightfully so. It wasn’t her
finest hour.
*But this isn’t a (Robert) Bork or even an Obama (who, as a senator, voted against both
John Roberts and Alito) pay-back. Certainly not for a party that can ill afford to
marginalize itself further in the eyes of Hispanic voters.
*And then Sonia Sotomayor will be confirmed as an Associate Justice of the U.S.
Supreme Court.