By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS – 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Women's groups, euphoric when President Barack Obama chose Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, have been remarkably quiet in the weeks since on the judge who would be the court's third woman ever.
Sotomayor's few rulings on reproductive issues have made abortion rights activists unwilling to crusade on her behalf, and other liberal women's organizations say they're waiting to voice full-throated support until they know more about her record.
Their relative silence may be helping Sotomayor — who's been accused of letting her personal experiences interfere with her judging — more than it hurts her.
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My thoughts:
1. At the moment Sotomayor's confirmation appears certain, with 60 Democratic senators. Groups that would rather see her seated than rejected still have the luxury of sitting this one out.
2. The low profile of "women's groups" must contribute to the trend of defining Sotomayor as a Hispanic nominee rather than a female nominee. Hispanic activists, obviously, are extremely engaged on her behalf, and most of the opposition to her falls along racial issues, from the New Hampshire firefighters case, to her comments about wise latinas vs. white men, to outright pandering to anti-Spanish and anti-immigrant* creeps in the GOP. This line of attack hasn't resonated so far beyond the GOP base, and it seems sure to offend the most coveted (and fastest growing) demographic of voters in the US, guaranteeing the GOP's marginalization as an angry, exclusive, minority party.
*Nobody knows in America, Puerto Rico's in America.