Republican support for Sotomayor looks paltry

WASHINGTON -- As the Senate begins debate Tuesday on Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court, the veteran federal judge appears assured of confirmation but without the sweeping bipartisan majority her backers hoped for the nation's first Hispanic high court pick.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the Senate will "make history" with a vote to confirm Sotomayor this week and expressed regret that more Republicans won't be supporting her. "I'm disappointed that not more of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are likely to vote for this outstanding nominee, particularly in light of her record and qualifications," Reid said.

Sen. John Ensign of Nevada became the 28th Republican to announce he will vote against Sotomayor, following Monday's announcement by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that he will vote no. Ensign, in a statement issued by his office, said his doubts about Sotomayor's impartiality led him to oppose President Obama's first Supreme Court nominee.

"I take my responsibility as Nevada's senator very seriously and feel I need to protect the sanctity of our Constitution," Ensign said.

McCain, his party's 2008 presidential nominee, called Sotomayor "immensely qualified" and said her life story was "inspiring," but he said she has complied a "long record of judicial activism" during her 17 years as a federal judge.

Ensign and McCain join a number of Republicans who are opposing Sotomayor despite representing large Hispanic constituencies. Others include Texans John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison and McCain's Arizona colleague, deputy Senate Republican leader Jon Kyl.

Six of the Senate's 40 Republicans have announced they will support Sotomayor.

None of the 60 senators who caucus with the Democrats has announced opposition to Obama's nominee, so the only question is her margin of victory. Democratic Senate leaders plan to make the vote on Sotomayor the last thing lawmakers do before leaving town for a month-long recess. The timing is designed to give Obama something to celebrate as he heads into a bruising debate on health care.

Yet the vote will underscore a problem he faces in selling his top legislative priority: his limited ability to bridge the partisan divide.

Sotomayor represents "a historic nomination by a popular president, and she can't even muster more votes than John Roberts, a conservative white guy," says Wendy Long of Judicial Confirmation Network, a conservative group opposed to Sotomayor.

Chief Justice John Roberts won 78 votes, including 22 Democrats, when he was confirmed in 2005 to replace the late William Rehnquist. President George W. Bush's second Supreme Court nominee, Samuel Alito, was confirmed the next year by 58 senators, including four Democrats, when he replaced Sandra Day O'Connor.

Democrats hope to capitalize on what they see as a GOP snub of the nation's fastest-growing voting bloc. Hispanics have held the keys to the White House in the past two presidential elections, opening the door for Bush in 2004, when he got more than 40% of the Hispanic vote, and then for Barack Obama, who won 67% of the Hispanic vote last year.

"This is one of those very decisive moments for the Latino community," said Henry Cisneros, a former member of President Bill Clinton's Cabinet. Cisneros plans to speak Thursday at a Los Angeles rally in support of Sotomayor's nomination — one of a series planned around the country to thank senators who backed her but also to "call attention to those who opposed her," he said.

Republicans have been aware of the risks involved in opposing Sotomayor. Danny Vargas, the head of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly, said a number of senators sought his advice about how to frame the Sotomayor debate. "Keep it respectful," he said he advised them. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., pointed out as he opened debate Tuesday morning that Republicans had done so. He noted that Sotomayor herself and several of her top Democratic backers, including Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois and Charles Schumer of New York, had described the Judiciary Committee's confirmation hearings as "respectful and fair."

Those hearings resulted in a 13-6 vote in favor of Sotomayor's nomination. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of the panel's seven Republican members, supported Sotomayor.

"As a Republican, I was incredibly disappointed" by the lack of GOP support for Sotomayor, said National Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President Augustine Martinez.

The National Rifle Association has announced its opposition to Sotomayor, the first time the gun lobby has taken a stand on a Supreme Court nomination. The group is worried that a Sotomayor ruling last year upholding a state regulation on martial-arts sticks indicates she might favor limits on gun owners' rights.

Several senators, including Ensign and Hutchison, cited concerns about gun rights in opposing Sotomayor. For others, including McCain, the memories of past fights over judicial nominees loom larger. The Arizona senator brought up Democrats' decision to block another Hispanic judicial candidate with "an excellent résumé and an inspiring life story." That was Miguel Estrada, a Bush nominee to an appeals court seat in the District of Columbia.

Other Republicans cited Obama's own record opposing both of Bush's Supreme Court nominees. "Sen. Obama never voted to confirm a Supreme Court justice," Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, observed. "He even voted against a man who administered the oath of presidential office, Chief Justice John Roberts, another distinguished and well-qualified nominee."