Sotomayor makes history

Sonia Sotomayor took her place as the 111th justice of the Supreme Court, and its first Hispanic, after being confirmed by the Senate in a 68–31 vote. Democrats unanimously supported her confirmation, joined by nine Republicans. After Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath in a private ceremony, Sotomayor took the oath again in a public ceremony covered live on television—a historical first. Because the longtime federal appellate judge is replacing the liberal David Souter, Sotomayor is not expected to alter the ideological makeup of the high court.

Sotomayor’s elevation marks “a momentous step forward toward a Supreme Court that more closely resembles the nation it serves,” said the Portland Oregonian in an editorial. There can be little doubt that Sotomayor’s “long judicial record puts her squarely in the legal mainstream.” There can be even less doubt that this woman, raised in the Bronx projects by a single mother, is “a testament to the American dream.”

Fine, but that doesn’t make her right for the court, said Ed Whelan in National Review Online. Despite her “inspiring personal story,” Sotomayor earned substantial Senate opposition by “disguising herself as a judicial conservative” and failing to make a credible case that she will not pursue the activist agenda that animated many of her recent speeches. The 31 Republicans who voted against her acted not out of racism, as some have ridiculously charged, but because they “stood on principle.”

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There may have been principle involved, said Chris Cillizza in The Washington Post, but there was plenty of politics, too. Of the nine Republicans who voted to confirm Sotomayor, four are retiring and thus didn’t have to worry about the political implications. Meanwhile, other Republicans might have been more concerned with preserving their “conservative bona fides”—the alternative being “angering the party’s conservative base.” Everyone likes to say that judicial selection should be above politics. Dream on.