Thread: The right choice at the the right time NAVARRETTE

The right choice at the the right time

By Ruben Navarrette
2:00 a.m. May 27, 2009

He's done himself and the Democratic Party a lot of good with Latino voters – probably for a generation or more – by breaking what many considered an impenetrable barrier.

Judging from her inspiring personal story, her top-flight academic credentials and what former colleagues and law clerks describe as both her intellect and – yes – her empathy for the downtrodden, U.S. Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor deserves to be on the Supreme Court.
And President Barack Obama deserves enormous credit for choosing her and thus making history by nominating the first Latina to sit on the high court.

He's done himself and the Democratic Party a lot of good with Latino voters – probably for a generation or more – by breaking what many considered an impenetrable barrier. While Sotomayor still has to be confirmed, the fact that she was nominated at all is already historic.

Frankly, I didn't think Obama would nominate the New York judge, despite her impressive background. A lot of people I've spoken to in recent weeks – journalists, lawyers, law professors, former government officials, etc. – didn't think Sotomayor would be the pick either. They said she would be a strong choice, but noted that the Eastern media seemed to have other favorites in mind, specifically Solicitor General Elena Kagan and 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Diane Wood. In fact, it's hard to find any story in recent weeks about either of these two prospects that wasn't positive.

Not so for Sotomayor. The people I talked to bemoaned the criticism and negative stories that have come out about her in recent weeks – most of them unfair and inaccurate, according to her defenders. The caricature drawn in the media is that she is too liberal, too caustic with lawyers, too hot-tempered, and not strong enough intellectually. Supposedly, she also doesn't play well with others. She's even on record – on videotape, in fact – talking at a law conference at Duke University about how the appeals court is where policy is made, something that Sotomayor acknowledged was controversial at the moment she said it. She also clarified that she was not promoting that courts should make law.

Even her gender and ethnicity could be seen as a liability, according to some white male commentators who urged Obama not to give in to “identity politicsâ€

How can she be the first Hispanic when Former justice Benjamin Cardozo was Hispanic?

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

How can she be the first Hispanic when Former justice Benjamin Cardozo was Hispanic?

They probably mean LaRaza, I doubt Cardoza was a LaRaza racist.

So she is ACORN and LaRaza enough.

I have a friend from Puerto Rico and I have been educating him on the traitors in our government. I have learned much about the colony of America.

But Mexico and other third world countries are not our COLONIES!