Source:
BloombergBy nominating Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor to be the first Hispanic justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, President Barack Obama all but dared Senate Republicans to risk alienating Latinos by trying to block her confirmation.
Sotomayor, 54, whose upbringing by a single, Puerto Rican mother in New York City public housing is the basis of what Democrat Obama called “an inspiring life’s journey,” may be a difficult political target for Republicans. After losing the 2008 elections, the party is seeking to appeal to women and to Hispanics, the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. electorate.
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Senate Democrats voiced support for the nomination. Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson, the Democrat who votes most with Republicans, commended Obama for “selecting a nominee with a significant breadth and depth of legal experience” to replace retiring Justice David Souter.
And Snowe and Collins yesterday praised Sotomayor. With Democrats controlling the Senate 59 to 40, derailing the nomination will be hard, barring an unexpected revelation.
Read more:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=antcPk557oGw&refer=home
This is similar to my thoughts. Republican opposition to this will drive new voters to the democratic side even though there will not be universal repub opposition to derail her nomination. Now, the question is how much damage is the republican party willing to do to itself in a losing cause?