A conservative legal group is now up with the first ad from the right on Judge Sonia Sotomayer's Supreme Court nomination, arguing "America deserves better."
The conservative Judicial Confirmation Network (JCN) launched a website and ad taking aim at Sotomayer's now-publicized comments on the role of her ethnicity in making decisions, as well as her on-camera remarks about courts making policy.
The ad marks a first salvo from the right in what is sure to be a drawn-out fight between liberal and conservative interest groups over President Obama's first nominee to the nation's highest court.
Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales largely hailed the selection of Judge Sonia Sotomayer for the Supreme Court Wednesday, predicting she would be confirmed by the Senate.
Gonzales, who was at one time rumored to be a leading pick by President George W. Bush to become the first Hispanic justice, said President Obama's pick is "well qualified" to join the highest court in the land.
"I think yesterday was, obviously, a proud day for the Sotomayor family and a very historic day for the Hispanic community," Gonzales said during an appearance on Fox News. While the former attorney general said that no gender or ethnic group is entitled to a seat on the court, "the appointment sends a very powerful message here in this country about opportunity and hope."
Gonzales encouraged Senate Republicans to take their time and carefully vet her numerous opinions as a lower court judge, which could slow down the timeline Obama had pushed for in his announcement. He also raised some broad questions about her judicial philosophy GOP lawmakers are sure to echo.
Still, the controversial former attorney general predicted Sotomayer would win confirmation.
"She's got a great story. She's well qualified. "You know, based on what we know today, it appears to me that she's going to be confirmed. But, again, we don't know what we don't know."
Former Bush administration Solicitor General Theodore Olson has joined a lawsuit to seek the repeal of Proposition 8, the California ballot initiative which forbade same-sex marriage in that state.
Olson joined his 2000 opponent in the infamous Bush v. Gore, David Boies, to file suit in a federal circuit court to overturn the proposition, upheld by the California Supreme Court on Tuesday. The suit argues the ban violates the rights of same-sex couples.
"I personally think it is time that we as a nation get past distinguishing people on the basis of sexual orientation, and that a grave injustice is being done to people by making these distinctions," Olson told the Washington Examiner. "I thought their cause was just."
The suit is a bit of a surprise coming from the Bush administration's top advocate before the Supreme Court -- a noted conservative who was once rumored to be under consideration for the bench.
Olson told the Examiner that it was his hope this case could wind up before the Supreme Court, a body before which he has argued numerous times.
"We believe that denying individuals in this category the right to lasting, loving relationships through marriage is a denial to them, on an impermissible basis, of the rights that the rest of us enjoy," Olson said. "I also personally believe that it is wrong for us to continue to deny rights to individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation."
A California advocacy group vowed Tuesday to overturn the state's ballot initiative banning same-sex marriages, which was upheld by the state's Supreme Court today.
While strongly criticizing the court's ruling upholding Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage narrowly approved by California voters last fall, Equality California (EQCA) said it would focus its efforts on overturning the law in 2010.
"Today's ruling is a miscarriage of justice," EQCA Marriage Director Marc Solomon said in a memo. "No minority group should have to defend its right to equality at the ballot."
"We believe, as do the majority of our members, that 2010 is the best time to return to the ballot to repeal Prop. 8," Solomon added. "We must take full advantage of the momentum and commitment people now have to do the work required on the ground."
Solomon acknowledged the difficulty in reversing last fall's vote, but pledged to wage a winning campaign with allies throughout the state in order to reinstitute legal gay and lesbian marriages in California.
The California Supreme Court upheld the legality of Prop. 8 on Tuesday, but said that the some 18,000 same-sex couples married before the proposition passed will still be recognized as married by the state.
Similarly, another group, Californians Against Hate, said in a statement that, "Next year we will win back our rights."
Judge Sonia Sotomayor won praise for her decisions from at least one House Republican during a 2007 hearing.
Now-retired Rep. Vito Fossella (R-N.Y.) praised Sotomayor's dissent in a 2nd Circuit Court decision ruling that Chinese men were ineligible for asylum along with their wives, when they were subjected to forced abortion or sterilization.
Sotomayor objected to splitting up asylum-seeking husbands and wives, a decision which won praise from Fossella.
In a 2007 subcommittee hearing, Fossella said Sotomayor "made the point well" against enforcing separate rules for husbands and wives.
Fossella had sought to block funding to carry out the circuit court decision.
President Obama's expected Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, got strong bipartisan support in 1998 to become a U.S. Circuit Court judge. In fact, seven Republicans still in the Senate supported her nomination.
Sotomayor won confirmation from the Senate, controlled then by Republicans, on a vote of 67-29. In all, 25 GOP senators backed Sotomayor, who was nominated by President Bill Clinton. They include: Sens. Robert Bennett (Utah), Orrin Hatch (Utah), Susan Collins (Maine), Olympia Snowe (Maine), Thad Cochran (Miss.), Dick Lugar (Ind.) and Judd Gregg (N.H.). Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), who was then a Republican, also voted for Sotomayor.
Sotomayor also received some support from staunch conservative Republicans; Sens. Jesse Helms (N.C.), Bill Frist (Tenn.) and Rick Santorum (Pa.) voted with the Democrats, none of whom opposed her nomination.
The next vote on Sotomayor could play an interesting role in a couple of primaries.
Now that he's a Democrat, if Specter shows any hesitance to support her, it will probably embolden his liberal enemies. One wonders how forceful potential Specter primary challenger Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) will be in his early comments on the court pick.
Bennett's situation is dicier, now that he has a tough primary challenger in state Attorney General Mark Shurtleff (R). Adding to his consternation is the fact that Utah has nominating conventions, where very conservative activists could nominate Shurtleff outright with 60 percent of the vote. Bennett seems a likely candidate to switch his position on Sotomayor.
Sens. John McCain (Ariz.) and Charles Grassley (Iowa) both voted no.
On the Democratic side, vulnerable Sens. Harry Reid (Nev.) and Chris Dodd (Conn.) both toed the party line in voting yea. No Democrat voted against her.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said he had a "positive" initial reaction to Judge Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court, signaling an openness to President Obama's first Supreme Court nominee from the GOP.
Grassley, one of the top-ranking Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee -- which will first handle Sotomayor's nomination -- said that the judge will start with a "clean slate" going into her nomination vetting and hearings.
"I've got lots of thoughts," Grassley said during a regular press conference when asked about his initial reaction to the Sotomayor nomination. "They start out positive because I don't remember from a long time ago when she was nominated to be chief judge."
"A president is entitled to nominate who he wants to nominate," Grassley continued. "She does have a record for our review but, obviously, I'm just now today starting to look at that record and will be consulting with my staff on the key points that I ought to be reading about her there."
Circuit Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor would face a difficult time getting through the Senate if nominated to the Supreme Court, top Judiciary Committee Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah) warned Thursday.
Hatch said that statements made by Sotomayor about judges making policy was a cause for concern that could hold up a potential nomination by President Obama.
"She would have, I think, a more difficult time if she was nominated because of statements like that and, of course, she has a whole raft of opinions that I think would have to be scrutinized very carefully," Hatch said during an appearance on Fox News.
The comments are a warning shot against a nominee who, conventional wisdom has suggested, is a frontrunner to fill the vacancy left by retiring Justice David Souter.
President Obama said that he prefers a nominee who would sail through the Senate confirmation process and be seated by the beginning of the Court's next term in October.
While Hatch said he preferred not to prejudge individual nominees, he indicated a strong displeasure with Sotomayor's remarks.
"I'm not very happy about judges who will substitute their own policy preferences for what the law really is who think that they can run the country from the bench when they actually have a limited role," Hatch said. "And that role is to interpret the laws made by those who have to stand for reelection."
Watch a video of Sotomayor's original comments below:
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