Sotomayor Rises to Top of Judicial Ladder

As expected, the Senate voted Thursday to confirm the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court. This makes the native New Yorker of Puerto Rican heritage the first Latina, and only the third woman, to sit on the high court in its 219-years.

Making history is never easy. An old saying dictates that "the pioneers take the arrows" and that was certainly in evidence during Sotomayor's confirmation hearings and the days leading up to them.

Although she graduated from some of the nation's finest schools, some commentators labeled her a "token" nominee who was selected solely because of her race and gender.

Although she had spent her life rubbing elbows with white males — in college and law school, in the Manhattan District Attorney's office, in a top law firm, and as a federal judge — others called her a "racist" who was itching to use the law to disenfranchise white males.

And although she had, in ruling after ruling in nearly 17 years on the bench, overcome her own sense of empathy and simply called balls and strikes — even one of the key senators who opposed her described her rulings as "mainstream" — still others accused her of being a "judicial activist" who ruled from emotion instead of reason.

Normally, it is a nominee's decisions that might raise eyebrows, or her judicial philosophy, or even her perceived leanings on thorny issues.

Not this time. The main obstacle that Sotomayor had to overcome was her own poorly chosen remarks off the bench. The judge didn't do herself any favors by giving, over the years, a series of provocative speeches, including some in which she expressed a hope that a "wise Latina woman, with the richness of her experiences," would reach a better conclusion than a white man "who hasn't lived that life."

It was a thoughtless comment, and one that Sotomayor carefully backed away from during the hearings. In the end, she expressed regret that her words had been taken in a way that she never intended and which ran contrary to what she insisted was her record on the bench. That explanation was good enough to win over one of her toughest critics - Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina - who became the only Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee to support her nomination.

On Thursday, eight more GOP senators joined Graham in voting for Sotomayor. Many more Republicans — 31 of 40 — voted against the nominee. Thanks to a unified Democratic majority and the nine Republicans who broke ranks, the nominee had all the votes she needed.

Hopefully, this experience has served to remind the American people, once again, that talent and hard work pay off and that success stories come in all colors and backgrounds. Sonia Sotomayor has an already remarkably successful life story that now begins a new chapter.

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