Obama Selects Sotomayor to Replace Justice Souter

The biggest news yesterday was Obama's appointment of Sonia Sotomayor- lots of great new articles about her, but I liked NPR's coverage. How could her background and life experience not inform her legal outlook?

Sotomayor was raised in the New York City borough of The Bronx. She was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at age 8. Her father, a factory worker with a third-grade education who did not speak English, died a year later. Her mother, a nurse, raised her two children in a Bronx housing project near Yankee Stadium, working six days a week to send Sonia and her brother to Catholic school.

Its also about time that the nation has an open, honest dialogue about class, race, and prvilage. David Sirota agrees:

Between the Wall Street Journal telling us that business groups are confident that President Obama's Supreme Court nominees won't rock the boat and the New York Times telling us that Obama shunned so-called "favorites of the Left" in his Supreme Court search, I'm not (yet) fully confident that the selection of Sonia Sotomayor will mean huge policy change from the court. However, I am increasingly confident (and happy) that the Sotomayor nomination and ensuing confirmation fight could open up a much-needed discussion of taboo subjects like race, class, gender and privilege.

Other thoughts- the appointment of the first 'Hispanic' to the Supreme Court has little affect on immigration policy, but it has made the Latino community very happy. I am positive that the political game here is to satisfy the crowd a little so that Obama has some 'breathing' room before he tackles comprehensive immigration reform.

MSNBC Agrees:

As we’ve mentioned before, Latino groups have been grumbling somewhat about their representation (or lack thereof) in the Obama administration, as well as the fact that immigration reform doesn’t appear to be on the White House’s front-burner. But this pick buys Obama A LOT of time with Hispanics — a demographic he won last year, 67%-31% — on immigration and other issues. Is it a coincidence that Obama this week heads out West to Nevada and California, two states with large Latino populations? [Emphasis mine].

I do think the administration understands that there is no substitute for comprehensive immigration reform.