President Obama Has Made His Choice so Let the Battle Begin

Now that President Obama chosen Judge Sonia Sotomayor as his candidate to replace Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court the conformation process can begin in the Senate. Like most public political displays, more value will be placed on how each senator appears on camera than what they really think of Judge Sotomayor. The conformation process is supposed to determine if a candidate is qualified and if the candidate is strong enough to be impartial on the biggest legal questions in the land.

I fully understand the impact of a new justice and how a new person can tip the balance on the court, and I know there are vested interests that make senators take sides regardless of the candidate. This is natural and expected. If a senator represents a liberal area they will listen with a liberal ear and vice versa. I would just plead with the senators to be fair.

Interest groups will be making their case in public and on the Internet to pressure senators to vote one way or another. Conservative groups are already posting videos and text of speeches that Judge Sotomayor made in an effort to show that she is “results oriented” that is a nice term for biased on certain cases. They will dig up every word that she has ever uttered and use what can be construed supporting one view over another.

Of course this is standard procedure. This is an important position and everyone wants to see their view win out. The liberals did the same thing to every conservative nomination in memory.

I started this article to rail against the coming battle and to demand that Judge Sotomayor be vetted on her credentials, her history on the bench, and her ability. I still hope for that because, this time, I am very happy with the choice and I’m looking forward to seeing her take her place on the court. I do have to be honest and say I don’t know if I would be as quick to say that if the choice was less to my liking. I believe I was right there giving any choice President Bush made a hard time. I would eagerly read all of the gossip and hearsay about the candidate hoping it would knock them out of contention.

I believe I have come to the conclusion that all of the Internet scheming and stories are part of the process. That it is something that a strong candidate can survive. We will learn more about the candidate as we read between the lines and beyond the single minded intentions of the articles. So bring on the fight; I think Judge Sotomayor is up to it.