Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor testifies on the third day of her confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, on July 15, 2009
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One of the main focuses of Republican concern has been a comment Sotomayor made at least five times in speeches since the 1990s, that she hoped a "wise Latina woman, with the richness of her experiences, would more often than not reach a better conclusion" than a white male. Sotomayor has said repeatedly before the committee that she regrets her choice of words and that in context they were meant to illustrate how a judge must always be vigilant against bias. "The point's been made, and she's pulled back on those comments," says John Ullyot, a GOP strategist who has worked on judicial nominations in the past. "There's no point in pressing it further, especially when we're trying to reach out to Latino voters."
Coburn spokesman John Hart seems taken aback that anyone would have been upset by the Ricky Ricardo exchange. "Judge Sotomayor was, in a lighthearted manner, discussing shooting Dr. Coburn with a gun in the context of a serious discussion about the right to self-defense and the Second Amendment," Hart says. "If Judge Sotomayor was offended by Dr. Coburn's lighthearted response, I'm sure Dr. Coburn will apologize to her."
But what Republican Senators consider to be courteous questioning of a nominee may not be taken that way by a population unaccustomed to the inside-the-Beltway banter of the Senate. "This may come as a surprise, [what Latinos] see is an unfair attack," says Cesar A. Pareles, president of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, an organization whose board Sotomayor used to sit on, which itself was pilloried as a far-left organization by Republican Lindsey Graham on Tuesday. "Many Latinos will not understand that this is just typical politics. They will take it much more personally and perceive racial animosity directed toward the Hispanic community."
Coburn's exchange wasn't the only one of the hearings that has struck many observers, and not just Hispanic Americans, as offensive. Many viewed Graham's recounting of certain anonymous lawyers' criticisms of Sotomayor as a hotheaded bully as patronizing, especially when he suggested the judge take the time to reflect on the characterizations of her style on the bench if she ends up being confirmed to the Supreme Court. And Alabama Republican Jeff Sessions only dug a deeper hole for his party on Tuesday, when he stressed that Sotomayor, in voting against a full circuit review of the controversial ruling in the New Haven firefighters' discrimination case, had gone against another judge of "Puerto Rican ancestry."
The repetitive nature of the hearings just added salt to the wound. "They have been ignoring the fact that her 17-year judicial record demonstrates that she has never favored any one group or political ideal," says Estuardo Rodriguez, director of Hispanics for a Fair Judiciary. "One Republican Senator after another has repeated this questioning that is demeaning not only to the Latino community but to women by suggesting that she cannot serve the Supreme Court well because she has a Hispanic heritage."
Still, all in all, the hearings have been notably free of fireworks, especially when compared with past hostile standoffs for such nominees as Clarence Thomas and Robert Bork. Assuming that Sotomayor is confirmed, people aren't likely to remember Coburn's Ricky Ricardo moment or a few tough questions — which Senators say is their duty to ask. "The final impact is yet to be determined. The final vote will have huge political implications," says Federico Peña, a former Secretary of Energy under Bill Clinton. "At the end of the day, if there's a lot of Republicans that vote against her, well, in some ways you're voting for the whole family or against the whole family."
— With reporting by Sophia Yan / Washington