Posted by
David Zublick on Sunday, May 31, 2009 3:05:32 PM
Judge Sonia Sotomayor, Barack Obama's pick to replace David Souter on
the United States Supreme Court, will be confirmed. Nothing anyone can
do or say can prevent that.
Republicans are falling all over
themselves trying to determine whether it is in their best interest to
make a show out of fighting her nomination. The infighting among
conservatives escalated to a head this past week with Rush Limbaugh and
Newt Gingrich calling her a racist, and former congressman Tom Tancredo
comparing the organization La Raza, of which Sotomayor is a card
carrying member, to the Ku Klux Klan without the white hoods.
Are
these accusations and comparisons accurate? Should conservatives fight
tooth and nail to prevent her confirmation when they know the votes are
not there to stop it? Or is it political suicide for the GOP to go
after this woman when Republicans are trying to court the Hispanic
voter base?
Obama, for his part, says attempts to undermine her
nomination by conservatives will fail "because Judge Sotomayor's
17-year record on the bench — hundreds of judicial decisions that every
American can read for him or herself — speak far louder than any
attack; her record makes clear that she is fair, unbiased and dedicated
to the rule of law."
He claims that her comments that "I would
hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would
more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who
hasn't lived that life", were taken out of context. Yet these were not
off-the-cuff remarks. They were delivered as written in a 2001 speech
at the University of California's Berkeley School of Law. Sotomayor
made it quite clear what she meant.
Sotomayor's membership in La
Raza should also be a cause for concern. La Raza has promoted driver's
licenses for illegal aliens, amnesty programs and no immigration law
enforcement by state and local police. La Raza as an organization may
not reach the level of the KKK, but it certainly promotes rewarding
those who have broken the law to enter this country.
And
Sotomayor is an activist judge who believes in legislating from the
bench. She said the "Court of Appeals is where policy is made." She's
wrong , of course. It is the job of the judiciary to apply the
Constitution to the law. Nothing more.
Sotomayor is also
anti-Second Amendment. as a candidate for a position on the highest
court in the land, she presents a tremendous danger to the nation our
founding fathers established.
This has the GOP in a quandry.
True,
Republicans are a party in disarray at the moment. They do need to
reach out to the Latino community. Hispanics are generally Catholic,
conservative, pro-life and pro-family. The GOP is afraid of risking the
loss of a conservative constituent base it so desperately needs.
However,
to sacrifice the same principles that most in the Hispanic community
espouse for the sake of placating others would be a mistake that could
cost Republicans in the long run.
If the Republicans are ever to
return to prominence, they must return to the values that made them a
great party in the first place. The only reaching out they need to do
is to the conservatives they have disenfranchised and alienated for so
long.
Sotomayor will not change the composition of the court. It
is exchanging one liberal for another. But the principle of standing
for what is right remains a valid one.
Republicans must oppose the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor.
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