Elections have consequences.
One of the very serious consequences is that the President - possibly one that you never agree with ideologically - gets to select Supreme Court nominees. If you want SCOTUS justices that vote the way you would like them too, then get your candidate elected President. It's as simple as that.
Obama won. He has selected Judge Sonia Sotamayor for the first vacancy.
I'm a conservative. That means that I believe that the Senate should only reject nominees if they are unqualified. Not on partisan political / policy differences.
That's not how Democrats fight in the Senate. They take on nominees tooth and claw over policy differences - and make it personal. The Senate Democrats questioning Sam Alito disgraced themselves and disgraced the Senate in their personal attacks on him. They even made his wife cry in the gallery. Disgraceful.
I've only opposed one SCOTUS nominee in recent years - Harriet Myers, who was nominated by my guy President George Bush. This was a mistake. She was only minimally qualified for the position. When you have the whole country full of brilliant minds to choose from, then a Friend-of-Bush selection was unwise and untenable. She had to go. Republicans opposed her, and she was withdrawn.
That brings us back to Judge Sotamayor. Is she unqualified?
No and Yes.
She is clearly judicially qualified. She had more experience on the bench than many recent nominees.
Is she tempermentally qualified? Well, she has called that into question with her remarks that are racial in nature about the "wise latina woman" being superior to white men. And with here decisions on the bench like the Ricci case.
Is it enough to disqualify her? No.
She is going to be a dependable liberal vote on the court. I would prefer that not happen.
But, elections have consequences. Obama gets his pick, in this case.
The Senate needs to challenge her enough to make their point that she needs to be fair in her judgements - and then confirm her.
