Think Tankers on Sotomayor

"Simon Rosenberg [no relation -- TTLA], president of the Democratic-leaning think tank NDN, argued in an e-mail message Monday that his party has been far more deft at capitalizing on the nation's changing demographics and called the Sotomayor nomination another example of the party's recognition of the fact that America will soon be a majority-minority nation."

"'For Sotomayor, it is a critical moment to set the public's perception of her. She will define herself for the country in her opening statement,'" said Doug Kendall, founder of the Constitutional Accountability Center, a liberal legal think tank in Washington.

"'But for senators, it is much more about stating their case about the future of the Supreme Court itself.'"

"As Judge Sotomayor's Puerto Rican heritage is discussed in reference to her nomination, it is clear that it is an experience that is thoroughly American. Exotic as we may sound to some, we are a people just trying to get by and as bewildered by American politics and jusiprudence as the next guy. Judge Sotomayor, as a Puerto Rican, is, well, as American as mango pie."

"Fascists have celebrated racialism and ethnic chauvinism; Mr. Obama's liberal fascism is no different -- except, it has morphed into postmodern identity politics. Take his Supreme Court nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor. She is an unabashed racialist, who believes in Hispanic cultural supremacy. She also embraces the pernicious doctrine of 'inherent physiological and cultural differences' among groups. For her, race, ethnicity and gender trump a common American heritage."

“'She’ll be confirmed. Everyone knows that,'’’ said Michael Greve, a senior scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative-leaning Washington think tank. Still, he said, “'her views on race and diversity is on everyone’s mind. . . . It’s her only vulnerability, if in fact there is one.'’’

"Norman J. Ornstein, a Congressional scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, said Republicans would have to talk a fine line in criticizing the judge.

“'This is a party that is reeling from its latest setback,'” Mr. Ornstein said, referring to Mr. [Al] Franken’s victory in Minnesota. “'And it’s clear that if the Republicans ever again have a shot at being a majority party or even just competing, not just when things are going badly for the other side, they’ve got to do better with Hispanic voters.'”

And finally for this post, while not think tank-specific, check out this brief from Politico, where columnist Glenn Thrush writes of a "the official, 200-plus-page White House playbook distributed to Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats tasked with defending President Barack Obama’s SCOTUS nominee during this week’s confirmation hearings."

Photo Credit: The image accompanying this post was taken by Flickr user adamsofen. It was used under Creative Commons license.