At first glance, Sonia Sotomayor would seem to be the ideal Supreme Court candidate for President Barack Obama. A highly respected judge on the prestigious Second Circuit Court of Appeals, she was first appointed to the federal bench by a Republican, President George H.W. Bush. Raised in a housing project in the South Bronx to a family of Puerto Rican descent, she went on to graduate summa cum laude from Princeton University and become a law review editor at Yale Law School, mirroring Obama’s own unlikely yet quintessentially American success story. So Sotomayor would certainly seem to embody the bipartisanship, intellectual prowess and capacity for empathy that Obama has suggested are key traits for this first Supreme Court pick.
fnord
PrairiePopulistsAndProgressives.net 
Just heard Sotomayor’s acceptance speech; this nomination will be a “cake walk”.
Hey, fnord, I had added a Sotomayor post one minute after yours. I deleted it. I actually have been surprised that has not happened before now – “great minds thinking alike” and all that…
It isn’t the first time its happened, just the first time you noticed before I did. I would have deleted mine if I had noticed first! I’ll bet yours was better. Great minds… ?? 😉
The added advantage of this nomination is that the GOP will look so bad in opposing her. First Latina nominated – he,he, he…
I’m going to admit it right out loud — I’m captivated and devoted to this president! I’ve ‘felt’ more deeply peaceful, assured and proud since his confirmation than any other president ever made me feel in my lifetime. He makes good decisions! He presents himself and represents our country proudly, with professionalism and dignity.
The Honorable Sonia Sotomayor is going to very difficult to criticize! It will be telling who attempts to and how they go about it, as it will tell more about them than her!
Now, always remember that no one knows how a judge will rule until they are in the job. There have been surprises, but I have confidence in President Obama and feel good about his choice!
Should the Republicans attempt to derail this nomination, it will further succeed in distancing them from the average American. I expect the unholy trinity, Cheney, Limbaugh and Hannity, to pass this off as an attempt by Obama to appease the Hispanic voters, and nothing else.
You think they’ll show their disrespect for this woman of accomplishment publicly? That ought to play well with both women and Hispanics.
Oh well, as long as they want to ‘play’ to their base they won’t be adding new voters to the mix.
We have already heard Rush proclaim that Colin Powell only voted for Obama because he was black. So Obama nominating a Hispanic woman to the Supreme Court would be a clear case of his pandering to the Hispanics and women.
I wonder, every time Rush wags his finger at someone else for being racially motivated, does his white pointy hat glow a little brighter?
I believe the President has fulfilled his promise of “CHANGE” with his selection. I also fully expect Fox and the Republican party to do its best to distort Judge Sotomayers words. Fortunately, they will also insult her and others in the process, insuring a smooth nomination for her.
Hi 4wrdthnkndad! Thanks for your input.
Your 90 day personal writing challenge is very interesting! I’m going to poke around your site. We have some talented writers here too, in fact, jammer5 and kolys — That Other Blog, Way Over There — have been doing a story together for the last few weeks. Read the story here:
Fox news couldn’t post her bio without pointing out controversy:
“But Sotomayor’s work as a judge is not without controversy. During a speech at the University of California at Berkeley, Sotomayor said, “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”
Huh? That’s controversial? That’s life, if one considers what the average Hispanic woman goes through. White males, not so much.
And in 2005, when Sotomayor spoke on a Duke University forum, she said, “All of the legal defense funds out there, they’re looking for people with court of appeals experience” because “the court of appeals is where policy is made.”
Seems like fact to me. Decisions have to go through the court of appeals long before they reach the Supreme court, and many decisions at the appeals level stand.
Sotomayor also served on a three-judge panel that declined to address the Constitutional issues at stake in Ricci v. DeStefano, a case involving white firefighters who claim they were denied promotions because of “reverse discrimination.””
My thinking on this, and I could be wrong, is by declining to address the issue, they forced in on the Supreme Court, which I think was their intention all along. The was also one Hispanic firefighter, making two white, one Hispanic. Get it right, fox.
Since when is Fox known for getting it right?
Well, as expected, that bombastic bastard of Conservative hate speech, Rush Limbaugh, has labeled Sonia Sotomayor a ‘reverse racist’, whatever that means. The Cato institute, another bastion of old white conservatism, has stated she wouldn’t have been nominated if she weren’t Hispanic. Others are labeling her a Liberal activist for her off the cuff statement that, “the court of appeals is where policy is made.” Some groups are deathly afraid she might go along with gay marriage . . . horrors!!!!
Looks like I know the Conservative mind too well.
The words, if one can even call them that, of this ultra right-wing POS. Heaven forbid she have a sense of humor:
“I doubt that Sotomayor can be stopped. She should be. She is a horrible pick. She is the antithesis of a judge, by her own admission and in her own words. She has been overturned 80% by the Supreme Court. She may as well be on the Ninth Circus Court of Appeals, given all the time she’s overturned. She has been reprimanded by a truly strong Hispanic judge, Jose Cabranes. She has been rebuked in writing by Cabranes for opinions that she wrote that had no bearing on the constitutional issues before her in the case that was being decided. Details on that coming up. But here is why, even though she may not be able to be stopped, here is why Sonia Sotomayor needs to be opposed by the Republicans as far as they can take it, because the American people need to know who Barack Obama really is, and his choice of Sonia Sotomayor tells everybody, if we will tell the story of her, who he is.
SOTOMAYOR: All of the legal defense funds out there, they’re looking for people with Court of Appeals experience because it is — Court of Appeals is where policy is made. And I know, and I know this is on tape, and I should never say that because we don’t make law, I know. (laughing) Okay, I know. I know. I’m not promoting it and I’m not advocating it. I’m — you know. (laughing)
RUSH: Well, there you have it. She makes light of it and makes jokes about what she determines her purpose to be. She is the embodiment of the criticism of a judge or a justice who is all wrong for the highest court in the land. So of course the Republican Party should go to the mat on this because in the process of doing so, the American people will find out more about Barack Obama and who he really is; what he really believes in. And her choice, this choice helps to tell the real story of Barack Obama. This is a debate worth having. She stands for policy making. Her defenders have said two things that are incompatible. I’ve been watching TV this morning and her defenders have said two things that are incompatible when you take them together. “No, she doesn’t believe in policy making from the bench. Her words were taken out of context.” You just heard her words. Listen to it again. Here’s audio sound bite number one. We got liberal defenders on TV this morning saying, “No, no, no, she’s been taken out of context there, she doesn’t believe in policy making.”
I read somewhere that she has been confirmed twice already. Who confirmed her? Was it the U.S. Senate? If so, how many new Republican members are there since her last confirmation? How many have voted to confirm her in the past, but now that she is nominated by a Democratic President they can’t / won’t vote to confirm?
fnord,
Yes, it was the Senate.
Well, do they have valid challenges to her qualifications since her last confirmation, or how would you guess they plan to present their objections if not?
She was first nominated by Bush 41. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn’t Bush 41 a Republican?
If she was okay for Bush 41 – then why is not okay now?
Maybe because Rush knows if this Hispanic woman gets on the Court – his days are numbered?
The tide will really have turned on the Grand Old Party of Old White Guys and they will really squeal louder when they see their power slipping through their fingers.
I think the power remains about the same if she is who President Obama thinks she is, and she presides as he thinks she will — leaning liberal.
There are surprises — Justice Souter who is retiring was also appointed by Bush I and was one of those surprises, so Bush I doesn’t have a great reputation for appointing reliably “Conservative” judges.
You are absolutely right, of course, on the gender and race not being white male. But we know the Conservatives live in the past if they expect the women to stay in the kitchen, and white to remain the majority race.
Not that Bush was anything near being a conservative, but you do recall hearing about Condoleezza Rice? I don’t think she stayed in the kitchen or was terribly white.
Oh, Toby, she did worship bush the lesser so that made it OK for her to be out of the kitchen. You know she was really, really smart, not at all like most women! (/sarcasm)
This guy makes great sense. I don’t see many Republicans making this kind of good sense and it’s refreshing. Our country will be stronger if the Republican Party manages to not make themselves obsolete.
________
“If the GOP is ever to be resurgent, it has to pick its fights carefully. The tendency is, unfortunately, to shoot at everything that moves.
Here are a couple of fights we don’t need: Colin Powell and Sonia Sotomayor.
Let’s face it, Sotomayor is a political trifecta. Woman. Hispanic. Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval from George H. W. Bush.
Yes, Mitch McConnell has to make his pro forma gestures about doing due diligence. And it is important to fully examine Judge Sotomayor’s judicial record. But, every day this confirmation battle gets unreasonably extended is a good day for Democrats and a bad day for Republicans.
Sotomayor is going to be confirmed. There is little doubt about it. So, going into weeks or months of paroxysms and hysterics about alleged “judicial activism” is just going to make the party look bitter, mean, tone deaf, and out of touch.
And we should be on our knees praising Colin Powell for declaring that he has not, despite the desire of some narrow and vocal forces within the GOP, left the party. Because if he leaves the party, we might as well turn the lights out.
Powell is a man of unquestioned military experience and diplomatic skill, the first African-American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and secretary of State under a Republican president. And yet, some attack him as just not “Republican enough.” Not a good message for independent and swing voters.
No one is suggesting that Dick Cheney or Rush Limbaugh leave the party. So why are they insistent on defining the party as such an exclusive club? Because if they keep it up, they’ll offend enough Republicans so that’s just what the party will be: exclusive. It’s a recipe for permanent minority status.”
continue reading at:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-05-26/the-gops-suicide-mission/?cid=hp:featureline