Republicans should demand clear answers on her views about issues on which she has no background such as wire taps, detainee rights, gun laws and the death penalty. It would also be an interesting exercise to see whether her rulings (or prosecutions) differ for non white defendants, and especially for Hispanic women. However it is the Ricci case will end up being the focal point of the confirmation process, especially when it is overturned. One can expect Mr. Ricci and one of the other firefighters (who happened to be Hispanic) to be called on as witnesses. The most important questions of the entire process will be:
a) Why she chose to summarily dismiss the case;
b) Will she admit her mistake in doing so now that the Supreme Court has overturned her decision?
At the end of the day, the GOP must understand that an all out fight over Judge Sotomayor would be a waste of resources and a net political loss. She is just a pawn on Mr. Obama’s political chess board. They should carefully but powerfully point out that the President has in fact insulted the Hispanic community by packaging political appeasement as the historic elevation of a Puerto Rican woman. Having made that point, their strategy should still be to confirm this Hispanic woman with a compelling background who also happens to be an average judge. They should save their energy for the next one. It does not take a ‘wise Latina’ to realize that this pick could have been a lot worse.
Article comments
1 - roger nowosielski
What had diabetes got to do with it?
2 - Ruvy
It just makes the woman a bit sweeter, Roger - well, it makes her blood sweeter, anyway....
3 - Bliffle
Good article. IMO this is the most thoughtful BC article summarizing the Sotomayor appointment.
4 - roger nowosielski
Just read it and I agree.
5 - Krutic A
The reason for 'diabetic' in the title is that she seems to have been considered for everything but her legal mind. If you read the headlines surrounding her, neither her achievements not her controversies (with the exception of the Ricci case) stem from her judicial experience.
She came up from a tough neighborhood and made something of herself, she's a latina, she lives with diabetes..so lets put her on the Supreme Court.
That seems to be the way the story has unfolded. She is just one of many good (but by no means extraordinary) judges and would have been passed over without a second thought if she weren't hispanic.
6 - Bliffle
"...would have been passed over without a second thought if she weren't hispanic."
Quite possibly true.
But she may have been chosen for relative safety: a rather mild personality unlikely to embarass BHO after appointment (the current scandals are pretty mild, after all, and aren't sufficient to cause any great confirmation trouble).
Maybe this is like so many Judicial decisions themselves: chosen not because they are clearly pointed to, but rather because a bad result later is unlikely to stain the author.