The Republican vote on Sotomayor dilemma

I’ve read a viewpoint I hadn’t considered before about the dilemma the Republican Senators have in voting for or against Sonia Sotomayor’s elevation to the United States Supreme Court.

I wrote an earlier post about it in which I’ve received some flack when I wrote Republicans dislike Blacks and Hispanics.

My newly discovered viewpoint comes from reading a blog post on Down With Tyranny. Tyranny wrote:

Some felt it was remarkable that conservative Lindsey Graham (R-SC) voted to confirm Sonia Sotomayor on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

I was one of those who didn’t expect Graham to vote for Sotomayor.

The Judiciary Committee rule says that at least one Republican has to vote “yes” on a nominee in order for the committee to send a recommendation to the full Senate. (This may have something to do with why not one single judge nominated by Obama has been confirmed so far.)

That is the first I’ve heard about any Judiciary Committee rule that at least one Republican has to vote “yes” before the committee could send a recommendation to the full Senate. Neither was I aware that “not one single judge nominated by Obama has been confirmed.” I don’t know where Tyranny got those facts, no source was cited.

Tyranny goes on:

Anyway, the Republicans secretly agreed internally that they had to put on a big anti-Sotomayor show for the drooling racist savages in their base but that they couldn’t afford to actually block the nomination without risking sustained, perhaps even fatal damage at the polls.

That link in the above quote takes one to the Washington Post, which writes:

But the debate over her nomination has raised tricky questions of identity politics for both parties. Republicans are torn between a desire to please their conservative base by opposing Sotomayor and a concern that doing so could bring a Hispanic backlash. The dilemma is particularly vexing for senators from states like Cornyn’s where more than one third of the population is Latino.

The perception I’m drawing from this is somewhat contrary to what I thought when I wrote the earlier post where I said “Republicans don’t like Hispanics or Blacks.” The Republican Party has an element of really right wing extremists who are very vocal, and, in my opinion very racist. Add on top of that the Nation Rifle Association’s opposition to Sotomayor’s elevation. The Washington Post says:

The decision on how to vote on her confirmation was made more difficult in recent days for some Republicans and Democrats from conservative-leaning battleground states after the National Rifle Association, which has a loyal and politically active base of members, announced that a vote to confirm Sotomayor would count against senators in the group’s annual candidate ratings. The NRA calls Sotomayor “hostile” to the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

I can begin to see how those Republican Senators apparently see it. If they vote to confirm Sotomayor they will incur the wrath of their extreme right wing constituents which can be expected to cost them some votes in their next primary elections. If they don’t confirm Sotomayor it will cost them votes in the general election. Talk about ambivalence. They have a risk either way they go.

Three Republicans, Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bob Corker of Tennessee and Jim DeMint of South Carolina, announced Wednesday that they planned to vote “no.”

Burr, Corker and DeMint are all from Southern states. So, I suppose I can conclude that Senators that vote on the qualifications of Sotomayor to become a Supreme Court Justice sort of decide that question by calculating their personal political risks in voting for or against her rather than her qualifications. In a way they can’t win for losing. Chalk one up for the NRA and the extreme right wing base of their party.

Update: July 31, 2009 GOP 12. Tennessee Republican Senator Bob Corker has announced he will vote against Sotomayor. He concluded

Judge Sotomayor has an impressive background and an inspiring American story. I enjoyed meeting with her in June and let her know I would reserve judgment on her nomination until the conclusion of a fair and thorough hearings process.

After much deliberation and careful review, I have determined that Judge Sotomayor’s record and many of her past statements reflect a view of the Supreme Court that is different from my own.

I view the Supreme Court as a body charged with impartially deciding what the law means as it is applied to a specific case. I believe Judge Sotomayor views the Supreme Court as more of a policy-making body where laws are shaped based on the personal views of the justices.

Unfortunately, nothing I heard during Judge Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings or in my meeting with her in June sufficiently allayed this concern. For this reason, I’m disappointed to say, I will not be able to support Judge Sotomayor’s nomination.

Related posts:

1. Criticism’s of Sotomayor already begun
2. Sonia Sotomayor is Obama’s Supreme Court Choice
3. The Sotomayor Vote
4. Political implications of Sotomayor’s confirmation in Nevada
5. Republican Congressman Dean Heller’s Dilemma