http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/judge-sotomayor-and-race-results-from-the-full-data-set/

http://www.juliansanchez.com/2009/05/29/a-sotomayor-core-dump/

You claim that Obama picked her b/c of her race. That’s a completely unfounded and rather silly allegation b/c it ignores her qualifications, which clearly surpass those of Alito and many others presently on the bench.

By your reasoning any minority – no matter how qualified – would have been picked b/c of his/her race. This, of course, implies that only white males are qualified based on merit.

If I’m incorrect about this, please tell me what racial minority he could have picked in order to avoid the allegation that he’s playing identity politics? What would that minority candidate’s resume have to look like in order for his/her nomination to be viewed as based on merit?

But I do think that the Sotomayor hearings are a place for Republicans to stand up for the principle of individual rights as OPPOSED to identity politics and group rights.

Obama picked Sotomayor for a couple of reasons, one of which is that she’s Hispanic, and he hopes to a) appeal to the Hispanic vote and b) lure the anti-immigrant right-wing crowd into making fools of themselves–again.

There’s a simple way to counter this.

The Republican senators quizzing Sotomayor should stick to the issue of identity politics: Given a court case involving an Italian-American white male vs. a Hispanic female, do the scales of justice get weighted toward the Hispanic female? Is Lady Justice blind, or “empathetic” with one eye slightly open towards the disadvantaged?

Senate Republicans should NOT get their hands dirty circulating the LaRaza and “illegal alien” and similar stuff about Sotomayor. Leave that to right-wing talk radio and the right-wing blogosphere to put that stuff out–don’t worry, they will. Fox News will, of course, pick up on that stuff and spread it–so we *responsible* conservatives can keep our distance from it.

“Since the 2008 election, people have been asking what conservatism stands for. Well, if nothing else, it stands unequivocally against justice as empathy — and unequivocally for the principle of blind justice. “
— Charles Krauthammer

Not unlike the black population’s loyalty to the Dems, the Dems have locked up the Hispanic vote. And they did it by seeing them as people and potential Americans, like past immigrant groups.

The GOP has chosen to see them as a threat, thank you Congressman Trancero (sp) and the GOP 2008 primary.

So the Judge Sotomayor issue is a very small chip in a much larger dynamic but a critical one. Yes, she will likely be confirmed and if that comes to pass, forever in American history it will be the Democrats gaining the credit, in a country that will be majority minority population more than likely in our life times.

Si se puede!

No one party is going to get a clean “win” on the immigration issue, to be rewarded with a unified Hispanic voter base. It’s just an undesireable issue from a policy making standpoint; pursued to a reasonable, moderate end, it’s still messy as heck. I wouldn’t want it if I could take it.

I think Frum’s assessment of the Obama political savvy is close enough to accurate. It’s a “win” in the Hispanic vote column no matter the outcome of the nomination. And if Obama does pursue the Hispanic vote in his immigration policy, the Sotomayor nomination will support his position among Hispanic voters.

To assert that this is a null issue and the public will forget it smacks of foreseen loss.

But Sinz also said: “The philosophy of the nominee can be quite different from the philosophy of the nominator.”

Not much credibility there.

Because the modern GOP has yet to rid itself of that small, but vocal and undisciplined racist fringe, all discussions on policy get tainted. GOPers who oppose immigration reform or Sotomayor on perfectly legitimate grounds will have their arguments tainted by the racist fringe who oppose these things for the wrong reasons.

You can’t argue that Sotomayor is a racist (despite the fact that her comments are consistent w/ Alito’s, as I pointed out to you elsewhere on NM) and expect to be viewed as racially sensitive when discussing other race-related issues like immigration.

And after she gets onto the Court, the public will forget about her. Did Hispanics resent the Dems over Estrada? No.

If the GOP doesn’t change its position on immigration, it can forget about the Hispanic vote forever. Immigration, NOT the Sotomayor nomination, is where the real battle for the Hispanic vote is.

…..I often wonder what he does for a living.