Tuesday Afternoon Coffee

No sooner did Obama announce the Sotomayor pick, then we had the beginning onslaught of conservative reaction. Naturally, the gun rights activists picked up on an obscure ruling of hers that in the world of total, absolute gun rights causes worry. The pro-lifers have already denounced her position on abortion, even though the rulings I've seen raise concerns from a pro-choice perspective. Mitt Romney issued a statement about her purported view of an expansive judiciary. Of course, we have the videotape of her saying judges make policy--which of course is true even though the orginalists claim they don't. And, of course, we have the usual racists who remarked, when Geraldo Rivera supported the choice, "he'd support Charo." Judicial Watch charges Sotomayor herself is racist.

My old executive assistant Jon Karl at ABC claims that the Republicans will try and raise all these objections to delay her confirmation past the August recess. I think that is really political risky. My advice to Democrats is to only answer the barrage of charges if they are obviously slander. Otherwise, watch the Republican self-destruct in opposing the first Hispanic choice for the Supreme Court.

For the next Supreme Court pick, I hope President Obama picks a native American, our oldest minority who has little representation in any branches of our government. To his credit, President Obama has fulfilled almost every campaign pledge to native Americans through the early stimulus packages. Outstanding is the settlement of the Indian Trust case, which Obama promised would be settled at a fair rate. A court pick would elevate the situation of native Americans to the place it deserves.

The California Supreme Court's decision to uphold Proposition 8 comes as expected but nonetheless is disappointing. The Court's decision allows for the legal status of the 18,000 couples who got married when same-sex marriage was legal. And there is the rub. This creates two different classes of gay couples, which will have to be adjudicated in a future court case. The Supreme Court also re-emphasized its position against the discrimination of gays. Sat tuned for either another referendum or a court case.