Sonia Sotomayor Who?

Have you noticed how little you’ve heard about Sonia Sotomayor lately?

The reason is pretty simple, there are bigger fish for the Republicans to fry. Replacing a liberal justice with a liberal justice on the SCOTUS isn’t a huge deal at the end of the day and they have to save their strength to work on health care reform.

Also, just like the rest of us, Republicans are poll watching and all signs don’t favor a fight.

From Wash Post:

Senate hearings on Sotomayor, President Obama’s pick to replace retiring Justice David H. Souter, begin in two weeks, and 62 percent of those polled support her elevation to the court. [...]

Partisan differences, however, abound. Nearly eight in 10 Democrats and about two-thirds of independents said they want the Senate to confirm Sotomayor, but that drops to 36 percent of Republicans. Overall, most Republicans deem the judge a “more liberal” nominee than they would have liked.

But if you look at Republican opposition closely, you’ll notice how weak it actually is.

While conservative Republicans are broadly opposed, most Republicans who describe themselves as moderate or liberal support her. More than seven in 10 conservative Republicans said she is too liberal, which is more than double the proportion of centrist or left-leaning Republicans who say so.

Add to all that the news recently that former special prosecutor Kenneth Starr endorsed her and you can be assured that you’ll be hearing the words “Justice Sotomayor” for the next 20 years at least.

Here’s the question: How many Republicans will vote against Sotomayor?

(Cartoon: AP via Daylife)

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