I Heard it Downtown

Football season may be several months, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be some serious hard hitting in Washington over the next few weeks.

(I have to use a football metaphor because the Washington Nationals haven’t hit anything hard since they were playing in Canada)

Obama unveiled his pick to fill David Souter’s spot on the Supreme Court this morning, selecting US Federal Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Activists on the far right and far left immediately began to fire themselves up for an expensive, protracted battle. Ever since Robert Bork, supreme court confirmations have turned into political battles whose cost rival that of actual elections, and whose questioning that of Guantanamo Bay, minus the waterboarding.

No, actually, there will be waterboarding this time.

Anyway, on paper, you would think that this process should be fairly easy. Sotomayor is replacing another “liberal” justice, and doesn’t appear to be ideologically out of bounds. She has extensive judicial experience , graduated second at Princeton and went to Yale Law, so her qualifications shouldn’t be called into question. When you consider the fact that the Democrats have a zillion votes in the Senate, you would hope that this process should go by quickly.

(The only real allegation that has turned up so far is the idea that Sotomayor may not be as smart as the other justices. Even if thats true, is being “the least smart justice” that big of a deal? Thats like being the worst guy on the NBA All-Star team. Sure, you might not be Lebron James, but I’d still want Danny Granger on my team).

A few rouge Republicans might threaten a fillibuster, but if Harry Reid was smart, he would walk right up to Senator Sessions, hand him a phone book, and say “knock yourself out.”

Maybe Sessions can return the favor. If they’re both knocked out, the hearings go by quicker.

Whether that actually happens is unlikely, given the huge amount of money in the cottage industry of judicial appointments. We’ll prob get C-Span interrogations later in the summer/fall, which could make for semi-compelling television if you’re into that sort of thing. At any rate, you would think that getting a qualified, liberal justice would make somebody like happy, especially since Sotomayor happens to be Hispanic.

However, this process is raising all sorts of uncomfortable questions with me, that I think are a lot more important than the stupid crap Sotomayor will be grilled about on TV. I’m a little worried about the role of naked identity politics.

Sotomayor is certainly not stupid, and is certainly qualified to hold the job on her own merits…but you don’t have to be a Washington press wizard to know the most compelling reason for her selection….her “demographic appeal” as a woman and a hispanic.

I like the pick, I really do…but if you’re looking for a liberal intellectual heavyweight to do battle with Roberts and Scalia, there were better options, like Kagan or Wood (or I dunno, Posner). However, they weren’t as viable for political reasons…Sotomayor’s story and demographics basically making her invincible at confirmation.

The GOP is trying (or at least should be trying) to make inroads with the nation’s rapidly growing hispanic population. Can you imagine the terrible PR of white males in southern accents ripping her a new one? It would be a disaster, albeit compelling television if you’re into Schadenfreude. Obama isn’t stupid, thats why he made the pick.

And this bothers me a little bit, because I think it cheapens the professional accomplishments of Sotomayor, or minorities everywhere. It would be terrible for anybody to refer to her as some sort of AA justice, given her impressive resume, but by making such a naked play towards identity politics, you open that ugly door.

Its tricky though, because liking somebody because they look like you may not necessarily be bad. Studies have shown that having demographically similar role models can actually help minority groups feel more involved and connected to their society….even for highly educated people. I would consider myself highly knowledgeable about politics and whatnot, but i have to admit, I felt a little twinge of pride about Harry Reid…he shows that Mormon Democrats do exist.

Course, that pride tends to disappear when I remember that Reid has been a pretty crappy leader in the senate….but ya’ll dig right?

So its a tricky path. I like the pick, but I’m a little uncomfortable with the whole process, even though I think its important to help disadvantaged groups. I like Sotomayor, but I don’t want to like her because she looks like my mom.

But I doubt thats the kind of conversation we have in a few months though. It makes bad television.

Kinda like the Washington Nationals.