Sotomayor's critics

It's time to get Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings underway and cut the hysteria swirling around the false charges stirred up by hyper-partisan critics.

The American Bar Association gave her its unanimous rating of "well qualified," it's highest mark. Senator Lindsey Graham, once quite critical of her, now says that he can probably vote for her, and the only way she will not be confirmed is if she performs poorly in her hearings.

But the partisan snipers are still at it. Senator Sessions, ranking Repub on the Judiciary Committee, is still ranting about her basing decisions on personal feelings, about "empathy," and about racial bias. All of which are silly and willful misunderstandings.

Regarding the New Haven firefighters' case, in which the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Appeals Court decision (with Sotomayor as one of judges who had decided it): critics cling to this as a rebuke to her judicial wisdom -- seemingly ignoring the fact that four of the nine sitting Supreme Court Justices who heard the appeal agreed with her.

If one judge had changed his vote, it would have upheld the decision. So, if this was a rebuke to Sotomayor, it was also a rebuke to Justices Ginsberg, Breyer, Stevens, and Souter.

That dog just won't hunt, as they say in the South, so Alabamian Sessions should certainly understand it.

Come on, let's get this over with. She is going to be confirmed. She's more than qualified. She is less of an activist judge than many might be. And she seems admirably restrained and not easily swayed by feelings.

If fact, some have argued that the conservatives in the majority were more activists than Sotomayor and the minority, because their decision was a departure from precedent on racial bias cases.

Ralph