The Washington Monthly

June 29, 2009

SOTOMAYOR'S STRONG SUPPORT.... Conservatives had such high hopes for Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court nomination. They were going to raise lots of money, put Democrats on the defensive, and use the confirmation fight to generate enthusiasm among Republican activists.

Developments have clearly not gone according to plan. In Washington, Republican leaders concede that Sotomayor has not become the lightning rod they'd hoped for. And nationwide, support for the judge's conformation is quite high.

A sizable majority of Americans want the Senate to confirm Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, and most call her "about right" ideologically, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Senate hearings on Sotomayor, President Obama's pick to replace retiring Justice David H. Souter, begin in two weeks, and 62 percent of those polled support her elevation to the court. Sotomayor, 55, is currently a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York.

If confirmed, Sotomayor would become only the third female justice and the second on the current nine-member court. But there is no gender gap in support for her, with men and women about equally likely to be on her side.

With 62% supporting her, Sotomayor enjoys stronger backing at this stage in the process than any of the last four nominees.

It seems none of the charges from Sotomayor's detractors has had much of an effect. Only 25% want to see the Senate reject her nomination, and a fifth of those critics insist that Sotomayor isn't liberal enough. What's more, despite some recent polling suggesting a growing number of Americans describing themselves as "pro-life," the Post/ABC poll found 60% of respondents saying they want Sotomayor to vote to uphold Roe vs Wade.

All the attacks on Sotomayor have managed to convince conservative Republicans, but no one else. The right largely expected to lose this fight over Sotomayor, but the goal was to lose in a productive way, leaving conservatives in a better position going forward. That isn't happening.

—Steve Benen 8:00 AM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (8)

Comments

Only 25% want to see the Senate reject her nomination, and a fifth of those critics insist that Sotomayor isn't liberal enough.

What that suggests to me is that about 5% could probably tell you about at least one of her rulings, besides the reverse discrimination one, because you certainly don't get the opinion she's too conservative from reading MSM or even most liberal blogs.

Personally, I don't think she's necessarily too conservative, but I suspect we will see quite a few more 6-3 votes. My hope is that she will occasionally draw Kennedy toward the light.

Posted by: Danp on June 29, 2009 at 8:12 AM | PERMALINK

I think I got a touch of that whatayacallit...

Schadenfruede

Posted by: JPS on June 29, 2009 at 8:17 AM | PERMALINK

Better called by an American word "mispleasure", coined in the novel "Moody Riley".

Revisiting a May 29th post:

"Prediction: she gets confirmed 76-24, with 16 GOP votes."

Posted by: theAmericanist on June 29, 2009 at 8:27 AM | PERMALINK

Just a comment about recent polls showing more Americans calling themselves "pro life".

I think those polls are both very misleading (in how they are read) and completely accurate.

I'm a liberal who believes in reproductive freedom and access to safe pregnancy termination for all women.

However, I also would answer "Yes" to a question that asked if I'm "pro-life". If you're not pro-life, what does that make you...? Pro-death...?
Anti-life...?
I'm neither of those things and I'm certainly not going to cede the rhetorical ground to groups whose main motivation is fear of - and the desire to control - women's sexuality.

I would BET that a decent slice of those 'increasing' numbers of self-identified prolifers are folks like me. Which also explains away the apparent contradiction with the large numbers continuing to support Roe v Wade..

Posted by: steveconga on June 29, 2009 at 9:05 AM | PERMALINK

And don't forget last week's poll showing that the GOP has lost a good chunk of its already pathetic Latino market share since the Sotomayor nomination.

Mmmm. My black sugarless coffee tastes extra sweet this a.m.

Posted by: shortstop on June 29, 2009 at 9:36 AM | PERMALINK

If Judge Sotomayor is the radical left-wing activist judge her detractors claim and 62% of those polled describe her as "about right," what does that say about the argument that we are a center right country? Mr. Gingrich? Mr. Limbaugh? Anyone?

Posted by: RaleighLib on June 29, 2009 at 11:39 AM | PERMALINK

On a slightly related matter, how exactly is "Sotomayor" supposed to be pronounced? I remember some GOP extremist or other whining about how it wasn't being pronounced in an anglicized manner, so I'm somewhat curious. The fact is, I've never actually heard anyone *say* Sotomayor, since I never watch TV, so I don't know how it is supposed to be said.

Can someone spell it out phonetically for me?

Posted by: Shade Tail on June 29, 2009 at 1:13 PM | PERMALINK

This current bunch of assholes calling themselves Republicans don't give a shit if anything they do is productive or not, for them or anyone else. They had just as soon watch this country go to hell in a hand basket before they will agree with anything Obama or the Dem controlled Congress wants. Even if the majority of American citizens agree with the Congress. I can't believe they can and do stoop to the degree of lying they do without more Dems calling them out. Assholes, pricks, shitlickies!! Damn they piss me off!

Posted by: don on June 29, 2009 at 11:12 PM | PERMALINK