Posted on 05/31/2009 2:51:39 PM PDT by lewisglad
Republican senators are starting to figure out how they will navigate the racial aspects of Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court, showing Sunday that they won't be tongue-tied when it comes to the politically tricky subject.
Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic on the high court if confirmed, and just the third woman, and Republicans don't want to appear insensitive to this historic significance during summer hearings.
Guarding against any criticism of racial insensitivity, Republican senators on Sunday tried to turn the table on Democrats. They repeatedly invoked the case of Miguel Estrada, President George W. Bush's 2001 nominee to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals who withdrew his name after Democrats filibustered his nomination. Estrada was a Honduran immigrant.
Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, argued Sunday that Estrada could have made history as the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice if not for Democratic opposition. He suggested that Republicans were treating President Obama's Hispanic nominee far better than Democrats treated Bush's Hispanic nominee.
"What you'll see from our side of the aisle during these hearings is members of the Judiciary Committee and senators who are not willing to prejudge or pre-confirm any nominee. ... I might say that's in stark contrast to the way Miguel Estrada was treated, somebody who was on a path to become the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice," Cornyn said.
"I mean, Miguel Estrada immigrated from Honduras. He couldn't speak English, when he was 17 years old, came here, graduated from the two top schools in America, and rose to the very top of the legal profession. And yet, he was filibustered by Democrats who denied an up-or-down vote in the United States Senate."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I was wondering when they would start noticing the 55 million people that voted Republican apparently for nothing?
It’s not racism when the Democrats do it.
Remember what Rush Limbaugh said on Friday and now compare that to Cornyn’s statement today.
Rush is alwasy right. Another Republican who criticized him previously loses face.
Estrada is a good start but these RINO’s need to listen to Newt.
Spineless dogs, so careful of triangulation. Even the morons at DU know it was a blantantly racist and sexist statement.
it was actually closer to 60 million, but who’s counting?
Apparently Grahamnesty, Corynyn, and Sessions didn’t get the message.
I think if they were wise Latina women instead of white men, they would, more often than not, come to better decisions on how to address these issues.
McCain’s total was only 2.1m short of GWB’s total in 2004
I don’t think they can stop her. I don’t think any nominee has ever failed to be confirmed when the Presiden’t party has a majority in the Senate, let alone 60. Unless the guy did something criminal or blatantly unethical, like was the case with Fortas, and that was different because Johnson was trying to pull a fast one and game the election.
So, she’ll be confirmed.
That said, it is important that the GOP vote against her. The dems voted against Roberts and Alito and didn’t suffer, but it gained them support with their base and fostered unity.
The GOP falls into this trap where they vote to confirm and then later on the dems can say, “well, they could have nominated someone like Ginsburg who was confirmed 96-3” and all the dem nominees end up looking bipartisan and popular.
We have 40 and there should be at least 35 no votes. That will send a message.
In the next 4 years there’s a very good chance there will be cases to a)apply the 2nd amendment to the states, b)overturn grutter v bollinger and end affirmative action c)overturn mccain-feingold d)enshrine gay marriage e)overturn Stenberg and ban partial birth abortion in the states, not just federally
She will be on the wrong side of all of those cases, and hopefully in 2012 it will make a difference and be hung on Obama. None of the usual culture/social issues mattered last yr because the economy overshadowed everything. BUt it should be different in 2012.
Speak up now or hold your peace for another 30+ years.
JoMa
And what is the translation for "La Raza" again?
Dead on.
The Rs in the senate need to vote against her. Just looking at her record it is clear she is unfit for the highest office in the land.
Make it difficult, watch the language, mention Estrada over and over and don’t let it be a cakewalk
considering everything that went wrong for the GOP from 2005-2008, his vote total was pretty remarkable.
If you look the other election when the incumbent party loses they usually suffer far worse losses in total votes.
McCain retained about 97% of the vote total Bush got in 2004. Usually the incumbent party is lucky to retain 80% of the total in a losing election.
Not that it really matters or anything, but I do think it shows that there’s still a solid base of support to build on. It’s not like he cratered down to 50M or something.
60M folks didn’t buy the Obama hype. That’s a good start.
We cannot, in good conscience, vote to put a person with racist and provably unconstitutional views on the Supreme Court of the United States even if we can't ultimately win the vote and stop the nomination.
Don't filibuster. Just vote no.
Let them defend the indefensible.
think about it this way, more Americans voted against Barack Obama than any other President in US History.
Coming from a self-hating RINO like Grahamnesty this statement probably only means that Grahamnesty recognizes that Sotomayor is not a Republican.
Horse#%&*! My homey Benjamin Cardoza was. He was even a liberal.
It's just the Left's anti-Semitism showing.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.