Rightists unhappy with Sotomayor nomination

As Miguel mentioned in his post this morning on the Sonia Sotomayor nomination, “conservatives are likely to start an offensive on her opinions before the public can become enamored with the symbolism her nomination represents.” That offensive has already gone underway.

Republican senators have thus far been guarded in their reaction to Sotomayor as RNC head Michael Steele said that the GOP “will reserve judgment on Sonia Sotomayor until there has been a thorough and thoughtful examination of her legal views." That hasn’t stopped some Republicans from voicing their displeasure like Mitt Romney who called her nomination “troubling”.

Several conservative groups have also launched salvos against the career jurist. "Judge Sotomayor is a liberal judicial activist of the first order who thinks her own personal political agenda is more important than the law as written," said the counsel to the Judicial Confirmation Network. The president of Judicial Watch accused her of being a judge who “shares Obama's activist judicial philosophy… (and) will put her feeling and politics above the rule of law.” Despite her years of judicial experience and strong academic background, one of the ugliest critiques implied that her nomination was Affirmative Action-like:

"Sotomayor is not one of the leading lights of the federal judiciary and would not even have been on the shortlist if she were not Hispanic," said Ilya Shapiro, editor in chief of the Cato Supreme Court Review.

When all is said and done, however, Sotomayor may be confirmed with relative ease; Democrats make up 59 of 100 Senators and, as The Economist observed, the GOP may not want to rock the boat too hard and allow “more Hispanic and female voters will desert the Republican Party.”

Image- AP
Online Sources- CNN, AHN, Wall Street Journal, The Economist, AP, Politico, The Latin Americanist