The Sotomayor verdict

28 June 2009 |permalink | email article

A majority of Americans, despite determined conservative opposition, want the Senate to confirm Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayer as the first Hispanic to the Supreme Court. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll found her “about right” ideologically.

[Update] The U.S. Supreme Court ruled for white firefighters over promotions on Monday, reversing a decision by high court nominee Sotomayor. Retiring Justice David Souter, who Sotomayor is expected to replace, signed onto Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dissent.

Senate hearings on the federal judge, currently on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York, begin on July 13. If confirmed Sotomayor would become only the third female justice. Retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and current Justice Ginsburg back President Obama’s nomination.

The poll found no gender gap in support for her, with men and women about equally certain to be on her side.

Critics have seized on a passage in a 2001 speech she gave on separating personal views from an objective reading of the law, to the conclusion that “a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion that a white male.”

Most Americans disagree that her life experiences influence the way she decides cases. Fifty-nine percent said that the fact that she is a woman does not factor in, and 52 percent said the same about her racial and ethnic background.

The poll did, however, surface predictable partisan, cultural, race and ethnicity differences, particularly within the Republican Party, that are revealing.

While nearly eight in ten Democrats and two-thirds of independents support Sotomayor’s confirmation that drops to 36 percent among Republicans. Predictably, more than seven in 10 conservative Republicans said the judge is too liberal.

Abortion politics is once again a deep dividing line among Americans. About three-quarters of those who are pro-choice or lean so, back Sotomayor, compared with less than half of those who favor greater restrictions. Currently six in ten want the new justice to uphold Roe v. Wade. Most Republican men want her to overturn Roe, while GOP women are split evenly on the question.

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