Forward: Obama Makes “Another Breakthrough”

Aaron Keyak — May 28, 2009 – 11:34 am | Democrats | Domestic Policy | Obama Comments (1) Add a comment

Forward writes an editorial that President Barack Obama has made “another breakthrough” in his nomination of Sonia Sotomayer to the Supreme Court.

The beginning:

The Supreme Court has always been a highly symbolic court, and that symbolism was on fine display when President Obama nominated Judge Sonia Sotomayor to fill the first vacant high court seat of his new administration. Americans have been treated to so many breakthrough moments since January’s historic inauguration that it’s easy to lose sight of their import. But symbolism counts in governing, and in nurturing national ambition and pride. The fact that an African American president chose a Hispanic woman for the nation’s highest court once again merged a powerful personal narrative into a sign of hope for any of us who look, act, think or pray a little differently than those in power before us.

Sure, it was also a smart political move to select a Latina raised by a single mother who just happened to graduate at the top of her classes at Princeton and Yale, who has worked as a big-city prosecutor, a corporate lawyer, a trial judge, and as a member of one of the most respected appellate courts in the nation. Let the braying voices on the far right paint her as an unworthy “affirmative action” hire. That will be as tough a sell as Bristol Palin selling abstinence.

Beyond the symbolism is the substance of a judicial nominee, and here Sotomayor appears to be a wise, steady choice, a reflection of her patron in the White House. A full-scale review of her lengthy judicial record will be the province of the senators who will vote to confirm or deny her selection. But she is considered a thoughtful judge, not prone to grand gestures, who generally rules narrowly on cases and is difficult to tag with a glib label.

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