There's no question that Sonia Sotomayor is going to be confirmed as Justice Stevens' replacement on the Supreme Court: given the Democrats' dominance of the Senate, and the GOP's wariness of alienating Hispanic voters even more than it already has, it would take a Harriet Miers level of incompetence to fail the process, and in glaring contrast to Bush's unacceptable crony, Sonia Sotomayor is nothing if not qualified. Still, one might think the process itself would prove of interest, but the reality is rather less exciting; Dahlia Lithwick wrily spells out the predictable steps the process is likely to take. An amusing (and almost certainly accurate) excerpt:
White Republican men on the committee will then probe her involvement with an all-women's club and a Puerto Rican legal advocacy group that have done nothing wrong, in an effort to show that Judge Sotomayor's female-ness and Puerto Rican-ness have metastasized into a form of constitutional brain fever that will, as Sen. Jeff Sessions describes it, "infect" all of her jurisprudence. And while they grouse and groan about Judge Sotomayor's dangerous overidentification with poor and minority litigants, Republicans will grouse and groan that they are being painted as racists for even raising these questions. From the first to the last day of these hearings, her opponents will splutter that it's Sotomayor's racism that's making them sound like such darn racists.
If you enjoy watching politicians perform amazing rhetorical somersaults as they try to convince viewers that up is down, black is white, and that the "real racists" are those who object to seeing them reduce a highly experienced judge who graduated from America's top schools with stellar credentials to a dumb, angry Latina who "hates whitey" and only got where she is due to affirmative action, then go ahead and watch this ridiculous charade of a confirmation process.
Now, as for what ought to be the real question but won't be, while I'm not particularly keen on Sotomayor's likely judicial tendency, I do realize that she is about as moderate a Supreme Court justice as one can expect from a Democratic Party President, and in any case - affirmative action aside - Sotomayor is more likely to be a friend of individual liberty than a traditional conservative like John G. Roberts. As such, I don't see any reason to tie myself up in knots over her confirmation, which is sure to take place regardless of any theatrics which might occur during the process.
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