President Barack Obama Nominates Judge Sonia Sotomayor as First Hispanic Female Supreme Court Justice

President Barack Obama has nominated federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court this morning. She is the first Hispanic woman in history picked to wear the robes of a justice. If confirmed by the Senate, Sotomayor, 54, would succeed retiring Justice David Souter. I dare the Republicans to vote against the first Hispanic woman for the high court when they are pandering for Hispanic votes in general.

Administration officials have said that Sotomayor would bring more judicial experience to the Supreme Court than any justice confirmed in the past 70 years. The president has said publicly he wanted a justice who combined intellect and empathy — the ability to understand the troubles of everyday Americans. If approved, she would join Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the second woman on the current court.

Sotomayor is a self-described "Newyorkrican" who grew up in a Bronx housing project after her parents moved to New York from Puerto Rico. She has dealt with diabetes since age 8 and lost her father at age 9, growing up under the care of her mother in humble surroundings. As a girl, inspired by the Perry Mason television show, she knew she wanted to be a judge.

A graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School, a former prosecutor and private attorney, Sotomayor became a federal judge for the Southern District of New York in 1992. As a judge, she has a bipartisan pedigree. She was first appointed by a Republican, President George H.W. Bush, then named an appeals judge by President Bill Clinton in 1997.

At her Senate confirmation hearing more than a decade ago, she said, "I don't believe we should bend the Constitution under any circumstance. It says what it says. We should do honor to it." In one of her most memorable rulings as federal district judge, Sotomayor essentially salvaged baseball in 1995, ruling with players over owners in a labor strike that had led to the cancellation of the World Series. Source: Breitbart

Again, I dare the Republicans to filibuster her nomination. The political risks of doing so are great, especially at a time when Hispanics are the fastest growing group in this country and they are important politically as well. I am pretty sure they do not want to be on the wrong side of history with elections coming up in 2010. I applaud President Obama for nominating Judge Sotomayor. I must also add that history seems to have forgotten that the first Hispanic to sit on the Supreme Court was Benjamin Cardozo, whom President Hoover appointed to the court in 1932. Perhaps we forget Cardozo because of historical amnesia or have just gotten caught up in the euphoria of the moment.