What Lies Ahead for Justice Sotomayor?
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has made history after successfully navigating the grueling confirmation process by finally being sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts at a ceremony at the court's headquarters Saturday. However, the partisan politics that played out during the grilling phase are just a taste of things to come, according to The Christian Science Monitor's Brad Knickerbocker.The partisan politics that played out during Justice Sonia Sotomayor's grilling phase represent just a taste of things to come.
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has made history after successfully navigating the grueling confirmation process by finally being sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts at a ceremony at the court’s headquarters Saturday. However, the partisan politics that played out during the grilling phase are just a taste of things to come, according to The Christian Science Monitor’s Brad Knickerbocker.
Wait, before you go…The Christian Science Monitor:
The first test could come in the midterm elections next year.
Writing in NationalJournal.com, Steven Shepherd points out that “of the GOP senators standing for re-election next year, all 12 voted against Sotomayor.” That includes Robert Bennett of Utah and John McCain of Arizona who are facing primary challenges.
In states with relatively high percentages of Hispanic voters — Arizona (16 percent), Florida (14 percent), Nevada (15 percent), and Texas (20 percent) — only one Republican senator voted for Sotomayor. That’s Mel Martínez of Florida, who’s just announced his early retirement.
In a New York Times blog post, Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, says the sizable GOP vote against Sotomayor (plus the harangues of unofficial party leaders like Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich) are “more than enough to remind [Hispanics] of why they don’t vote Republican very often these days.”
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