Female justice

By Carol Gee


President Barack Obama, according to The Washington Post, made the "riskiest choice on his list who embodies his criteria." Deciding the night before he announced is pick, he chose Judge Sonia Sotomayor from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York, to be his first nominee to the SCOTUS. In my opinion he made a magnificent nomination who will be confirmed within the reasonable time line he has proposed to the Senate. And many Republicans have already set a predictable howl about the possibility of Judge Sotomayor replacing Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court.

GOP knee-jerk reactions -- David Corn wonders if Sonia Sotomayor will split the right by musing, "With his new Supreme Court pick, Obama gives GOPers a choice: Tick off social conservatives or alienate Hispanic voters." Corn's post quotes, among other right wing sources, Wendy Long, of the "Judicial Confirmation Network, a conservative outfit." Long has been all over the tube in recent hours spouting her hateful rhetoric about the President's nominee. At Firedoglake, bloggers took a look at Republicans such as Orin Hatch, already spoiling for a fight about this, even though he has already voted to confirm her to two previous judicial appointments. Eli ventured:

a verbatim transcript of the GOP's deliberations on whether or not to aggressively attack Sotomayor and risk (further) alienating Hispanics and women:

letusthinkaboutitforasecondyes.

Empathy misunderstood by some -- Another of our favorite Republican reactionaries, Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), worries that Sotomayor may allow'undue influence from her own personal race, gender,' " Think Progress reports. Rush Limbaugh, naturally, wants her to fail. John Yoo snarkily writes that "empathy triumphs over excellence." Other Republicans have mistakenly pointed to how many times Sotomayor has been reversed by the Supreme Court conservative wing. But not all Conservatives/Republicans have lost their heads.

Maintaining perspective -- But conservative Andrew Sullivan questioned Tom Tancredo's description of Sotomayor as "a racist." And conservative writer Mark Halperin of Time Magazine, states unequivocally that Sotomayor will have "smooth sailing," and is "headed to easy confirmation." Daily Kos' David Waldman posts about what the Senate vote might look like. My perspective at this exciting time is that Sonia Sotomayor is the best qualified person by experience the President could choose, and perhaps even the best pick to rebalance the this group of too many white male Supreme Court justices. And the Republicans will not defeat her, no matter what they say or what they try.

(Cross-posted at Making Good Mondays.)