"With Supreme Confidence President Obama Nominates Judge Sotomayor!"

It's time to Break It Down!

Surprising almost no one, yesterday President Obama named Second Circuit Appeals Court Judge Sonia Maria de Sotomayor y Ruiz de Orellana as his nominee to be the next Supreme Court Justice, replacing retiring Accociate Justice David Souter. Judge Sotomayor, a native of the Bronx, a 1976 graduate of Princeton University, and a 1979 graduate of Yale Law School, will become the first Hispanic on the High Court, if confirmed. She would also be the 6th Catholic on the current bench; an all-time high.

Just as there had been widespread speculation Judge Sotomayor would be a likely nominee, should a vacancy occur, there was substantial speculation that her nomination, or any choice offered by President Obama would be the subject of opposition by the Republican Party. This too has already come to pass, as Rush Limbaugh weighed in saying, he wants her to fail, Mike Huckabee added, she comes from the far left, and Michael Steele merely stated the his Party would reserve judgment for now; a position hardly in keeping with that of Limbaugh and Huckabee. But the Chairman has been deemed out of line…and out of order before.

Judge Sotomayor’s nomination will likely enjoy overwhelming support, and swift Senate confirmation. But before that comes to pass, some interesting contradictions and intraparty concerns will play themselves out. One prime irony of the Judge’s rise to prominence is that she was initially placed on the Federal bench by President George Herbert Walker Bush.

As Republicans attempt to brand her as a flaming far-left liberal, they will have to come to terms with the fact that before Judge Sotomayor became an Obama nominee, she was nominated to U.S. District Court by President Bush in 1991, and confirmed in 1992. Alternately, while Democrats may take comfort in the fact that President Clinton entrusted her with her current seat on the Federal Appeals Court, they must also recognize that in addition to having been a Bush appointee, as a Catholic, she may have views on abortion that many Democratic loyalists find disconcerting. And finally, the part of the Hispanic community that considers itself Republican may find itself conflicted about this nominee, as some African Americans did with Judge Clarence Thomas in 1991.

In the grand scheme of things, these issues will hardly slow the confirmation process. Judge Sotomayor is widely considered a centrist. President Obama has shown he gets it. He did not offer a nominee that would be found unpalatable to the Senate. Indeed, "With Supreme Confidence, President Obama Nominates Judge Sotomayor!"
I’m done; holla back!

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For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonia_Sotomayor

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/26/supreme.court/index.html

http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2009/05/steele-gop-pwn-howard-dean.html

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22962.html

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/26/obama-announce-supreme-court-nominee-tuesday-morning/

http://kgmb9.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17780&Itemid=76

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104530389

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/laborprof_blog/2009/05/obama-nominates-sotomayor-to-supreme-court.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/us/politics/27court.html?_r=1

http://www.truthout.org/052609A

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5039753n

http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSWAT01149820090526

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090526/pl_nm/us_usa_court_nominee

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2009/05/obama-nominates-sonia-sotomayor-for.php

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/judicial/2009-05-26-obama-sotomayor_N.htm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/26/limbaugh-i-hope-sotomayor_n_207690.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/26/huckabee-maria-sotomayor_n_207620.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/26/michael-steele-on-sotomay_n_207596.html