Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor won more Republican support yesterday in her drive toward near-certain Senate confirmation as the first Hispanic justice, even as a growing chorus of Republicans called her unfit for the bench.
Sotomayor, 55, is the daughter of Puerto Rican parents and was raised in a New York housing project and educated at an elite school before going on to success in the legal profession and then the federal bench. Obama chose her to replace retiring Justice David Souter, a liberal named by a Republican president, and she’s not expected to alter the court’s ideological balance.
On Wednesday, Republican senators Kit Bond of Missouri and Judd Gregg of New Hampshire broke with their party to announce they’d support US President Barack Obama’s nominee, as the Senate cleared the way for a history-making vote that will shape the court for decades to come and could carry heavy political consequences for both parties.
Nearly three-quarters of the Senate’s 40 Republicans oppose Sotomayor, leaving just a handful breaking with their party to join Democrats in backing her. That’s still more than enough to easily confirm the judge, barring a surprise turn of events.
Many Republican senators, initially worried that opposing Sotomayor could alienate Hispanic voters, have nonetheless sided with their conservative base in branding her unacceptable for the high court. They’re arguing that Sotomayor would bring bias to the court and allow a liberal agenda to trump the law.
“There’s been no significant finding against her, there’s been no public uprising against her,” said Bond, who is retiring. “I will support her, I’ll be proud for her, the community she represents and the American dream she shows is possible.”
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