Today, Sonia Sotomayor's nomination is set to be put to debate before the full Senate. Reading Senator John McCain's announcement that he would vote against Sotomayor's confirmation to the Supreme Court yesterday, one begins to notice a theme among Republicans opposed to her nomination:
However, an excellent resume and an inspiring life story are not enough to qualify one for a lifetime of service on the Supreme Court. Those who suggest otherwise need to be reminded of Miguel Estrada. Mr. Estrada also was a supremely qualified candidate. And he too has an incredible life story. Miguel Estrada actually immigrated to the United States from Honduras as a teenager, understanding very little English. Yet, he managed to graduate from Columbia University and Harvard Law School magna cum laude before serving his country as a prosecutor and a lawyer at the Department of Justice. Later, he found success as a lawyer in private practice. However, Miguel Estrada, in spite of his qualifications and remarkable background – in spite of the fact that millions of Latinos would have taken great pride in his confirmation – was filibustered by the Democrats seven times, most recently in 2003 because many Democrats disagreed with Mr. Estrada’s judicial philosophy. This was the first filibuster ever to be successfully used against a court of appeals nominee.
Not sure what Estrada has to do with Sotomayor? Me neither. Yet, Mitch McConnell mentioned him in his statement opposing Sotomayor, as did John Cornyn. His name was recited over and over again during Sotomayor's confirmation hearings.
It's confusing: In 2003, the GOP argued that Democrats' opposition to Estrada was racist, but now they're saying their opposition to Sotomayor isn't, even though it serves the Dems right because they voted against Estrada. Which would mean that they're opposing Sotomayor because of her race, but they aren't, because you know, look at how much they love Miguel Estrada. Protesting a bit much, aren't they?
A couple of weeks ago, on the O'Reilly Factor, Dennis Miller actually urged Republicans to support Sotomayor for political reasons, but I think he got at why Estrada keeps being mentioned. (via Nexis)
I think they are misplaying this. I would have got so behind her. I would have said, listen, after they shot down our Hispanic, Miguel Estrada because they didn't care about him, we're happy they are putting an Hispanic in. God bless her. And then the Hispanic community is going maybe I am going to vote for them in '10.
See, Estrada was "their Hispanic," so it's only right that the GOP treat Sotomayor the same way Estrada was treated, given that she's "the Democrats' Hispanic". Gotta have the same standard for all Hispanics, otherwise you're being racist.
-- A. Serwer
