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WASHINGTON – Judge Sonia Sotomayor, whom President Obama announced Tuesday as his pick to succeed retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter, will be an “asset” to the administration and the civil rights agenda, activists, legal and political experts said.

WHITE HOUSE PHOTO

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden flank Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor at a White House briefing last month. Civil rights activists applaud Obama's choice of Sotomayor and her judicial record.

“Barack Obama is a very bright man; he’s thought about this matter for some time and had in his mind narrowed down the choices months ago,” said University of Maryland law professor Larry Gibson. “I’d say with this appointment he has a fiver – a woman, a Hispanic, a liberal, a friend and an easy confirmation.”

For many equal opportunity advocates, the choice was an inspired one.

“We believe the President has made an outstanding choice,” said National Urban League President/CEO Marc Morial. “In evaluating a federal judicial nomination, the National Urban League’s primary concern is whether a nominee’s record demonstrates a commitment to upholding civil rights, equality of opportunity and social justice. Our initial review of Judge Sotomayor’s record indicates that she meets these criteria.”

NAACP Legal Defense Fund President and Director-Counsel John Payton offered similar praise.

“In nominating Judge Sotomayor, President Obama has chosen a person with a powerful intellect, a distinguished career as a lawyer and as a judge, and a deep commitment to the rule of law that has grown out of life experiences which would be unique to a justice of the United States Supreme Court," he said in a statement.

Civil rights advocates said if confirmed, the New York judge promises a reinvigoration of the equal justice agenda, which, experts said, has languished in President Bushís Supreme Court.
The high court has been ìrelatively lukewarmî on civil rights issues over the past decade, said Jose F. Anderson, professor of law at the University of Baltimore School of Law.

"Rarely have there been positive glimmers of hope for civil rights development in this Supreme Court."
As a practical matter, it [Sotomayor's potential appointment] might not change the voting pattern on the court but it might become very important if President Obama gets another appointment."

Anderson said the high court - with its 5-4 conservative bent - has ruled negatively particularly on cases involving the use of aggressive admission policies, or affirmative action, to increase access for minorities in schools and the workplace, that is, "those issues that would allow race to be more than a mere factor."

Charles Ogletree, a constitutional law professor at Harvard Law School, said the argument has been that the court should be ìcolor blind."

"But I think the Supreme Court has to be conscious of color to correct historic and longstanding inequalities," he said.
Judge Sotomayor – a Latina – seems to have that sensitivity, Ogletree and others said.

ìIím very comfortable on how she will fall on issues of civil rights like affirmative actionÖshe will be an important asset,î he added. "She believes the Constitution is designed to encompass all people and thatís reflected in her decision in the black firemen case."

That case – a discrimination suit brought by white firefighters against the city of New Haven, Conn. – while a positive indicator for the civil rights community, will likely be a stumbling block in Sotomayorís Senate confirmation.

In one of her more notable decisions, last year the appellate judge sided with the city of New Haven, which scrapped the results of a promotion exam when too few minorities made the grade. Ironically, that case is now before the Supreme Court.

At the time, conservatives loudly cried foul. And in this case, conservative chatter on the Web and in the toxic brew of broadcast punditry has been equally vociferous and sometimes vicious.

Radio talk show host and perennial offender Rush Limbaugh called Sotomayor and President Obama "reverse racists" and said he wants them both to fail.

The conservative Judicial Confirmation Network, in a statement Tuesday, blasted Sotomayor as "a liberal judicial activist of the first order who thinks her own personal political agenda is more important than the law as written."

And former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, in a swipe at Obama and Sotomayor, wrote on www.huckpac.com: "The appointment of Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court is the clearest indication that President Obamaís campaign promises to be a centrist and think in a bi-partisan way were mere rhetoric. Sotomayor comes from the far left and will likely leave us with something akin to the 'Extreme Court.' If she is confirmed, then we need to take the blindfold off Lady Justice."

Beltway Republican leaders, however, have largely held their counsel, though a few have threatened to filibuster if unhappy with the presidentís choice, indicating only that theyíd like to take the time to fully examine Sotomayor's record. The president has said he wants the new justice to be confirmed by the time the court reconvenes in October.

"Republicans will reserve judgment on Sonia Sotomayor until there has been a thorough and thoughtful examination of her legal views," wrote Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele in a statement.

While promising a "fair hearing," Senate Judiciary Chairman Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), who voted against Sotomayor in her confirmation to the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appealsósaid the nominee will undergo ìthoroughî scrutiny.

"Of primary importance, we must determine if Ms. Sotomayor understands that the proper role of a judge is to act as a neutral umpire of the law, calling balls and strikes fairly without regard to one's personal preferences or political views."
Such pontification may be the only recourse left for Republicans for whom an attack on Sotomayor could mean reenergizing the party base but also alienating Hispanic and women voters, political analysts said.

ìI imagine Republicans will use this confirmation to argue about the role of justices and make arguments against the heavy-handed use of the Supreme Court," said Johns Hopkins University politics professor Lester Spence. Since, "[Democrats] got the 60 votes [when Sen. Al Franken is finally seated] to secure the nomination."

Even if Republicans launch an offensive it will likely not succeed, given the Hispanic and women groups already poised to support Sotomayorís nomination and given the judgeís record, experts said.

"In any fair process, Judge Sotomayor will be quickly confirmed," Washington, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) affirmed.

"She's already a federal circuit judge so anything that could be brought out has already been developed during her confirmation to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals," Gibson said. Plus, "her credentials are impeccable."

Sotomayor, 54, a graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School and a former prosecutor and private attorney, was appointed to a federal bench in the Southern District of New York in 1992 by Republican President George H.W. Bush. She gained support from the other side of the political aisle when Democratic President Bill Clinton named her an appeals judge in 1997.

For others, however, it is the juristís personal life experience that holds the appeal.

Sotomayor grew up in a Bronx, N.Y. housing project after her parents emigrated from Puerto Rico. She has battled diabetes since she was 8, her father died when she was 9 and her mother then had to work six days a week to care for her and her brother.

Such experience can engender the "common touch and a sense of compassion" President Obama said he was seeking in his nominee.

"What Sonia will bring to the court, is not only the knowledge and experience acquired over a course of a brilliant legal career, but the wisdom accumulated from an inspiring life’s journey," Obama said during the announcement.

Anderson, the law professor, agreed, saying, "It helps when a judge can draw from their own observations, especially on issues regarding the underprivileged, as opposed to information received from reading [only]. It puts a lot of context into what it takes to give fair access."

The sea-change Sotomayor represents ideologically and potentially as the first Hispanic and third woman justice on the Supreme Courtóone who could serve for a long time given her relative youthówill boost the presidentís political cache, political analysts said.

"Although people see Latino voters as being up for grabs, most Latino people support the Democratic Party and that dynamic is only going to increase with this nomination, as it will for women voters," Spence said.

And, it will also add to the president's "narrative."

Anderson said, ìSotomayor is yet another example of the change (Obama) promised during his campaign."

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