The president and the Democrats in the Senate have a big problem — Sotomayor’s “wise Latina” speech is unacceptable and a potential reason for those inclined to oppose or even filibuster her nomination. After all, we can’t have someone on the bench spouting off about Latino justice and denigrating the notion of judicial impartiality, can we?
So Sen. Pat Leahy is out spinning:
Sotomayor told Leahy that what she meant is that people have different backgrounds but “there is only one law,” and “ultimately and completely” she would follow the law.
Uh . . . no. She said the opposite, as Pete aptly points out. The Democrats aren’t going to get out of this by crossing their fingers and hoping people don’t find out what she said. It is out there for all to read. Sotomayor better have a darn good explanation, or I suspect her nomination will face a very rocky road.
