Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues The Obama Administration Obama picks Sotomayor for high court

Sky...

I agree with Ron whether or not he has links.

There is a very distinctive barrier among the various "Latino" populations. I can assure you that in Texas that the Mexican-Americans don't at all feel any love or connection to either Puerto Rico or Cubans...and that comes from personal conversations.

In fact, this issue really isn't all that different than you might find in the intera-racial problems associated with "Color" among blacks where darker skinned blacks find racial issues emanating from lighter blacks.

And to really make matters a bit more confusing, Texas citizens who are Mexican-American will stand against Mexican Nations in situations that call for a declaration of allegiance.

Human beings of an alike feather...they do stick together.

Call this situation "Tribal" if you want to, but Ron pretty clearly defined the social divisions.

Although Native Americans have a common ancester for the most part...the various tribe fought like crazy...and many times tribes were split off of a larger group.

Actually, when you think about it, we are talking about people from 3 different countries. So, I think the real problem comes when the word "Latino" is used too broadly. These distinct groups don't see themselves sharing the same heritage for the most part.

Y'all draw your claws in for a minute, okay? This began with an unsourced comment from Austin to the effect that

Austin, can you link to anything that might put this comment in some sort of context?

SkyHawk, based on experience I don't think that I have either used an overly-broad brush or a particularly poor quality of paint.

As to demographics of Hispanic groups, even minimal research shows that Mexicans are the most numerous and the most widely distributed over the nation, that Cubans are mostly concentrated in southern Florida, and Puerto Ricans are primarily on the upper eastern seaboard of the US. It is the metastasizing Mexican population that is now considered to be invading the former preserves of the Cubans and Puerto Ricans.

Cubans and Puerto Ricans, near-neighbors in the Caribbean, share a similar style of Spanish, cuisine, history...and a fairly strong antipathy toward Mexicans; however, there the similarity ends. Cubans see themselves as more cosmopolitan, more sophisticated, and with a better work ethic; they regard Puerto Ricans as bumpkins, the not overly-bright country cousins. Puerto Ricans tend to see the Cubans as being extremely arrogant, as trying to be too "white" and trying to ignore a lot of their common cultural roots. Both see the Mexicans as the "brown trash" of the Latino world; they think they are lazy by choice, congenitally ignorant, and that they speak a very poor excuse for Spanish.

Mexicans are not overly fond of either Cubans or Puerto Ricans, especially of the Cubans, who they see as having gotten a totally-undeserved special treatment on matters of immigration. They also resent the Cubans for their "un-Latinness", their insularity, their tendency to be more European in their culture, for their tendency to look down their noses at the Mexicans as a bunch of semi-literate Indian morons who have taken a lot and done very little with it. They resent the Puerto Ricans for being too much like Cubans and they resent both for presuming to intrude upon what the Mexicans regard as their "rights" in being the designated Spanish-speaking minority victim group of record.

And here I thought it might have been possible to have an intelligent discussion about the qualifications of the candidate. Clearly, I was wrong. (Note, this post is not directed at anyone in particular.)

I've gotta side with Ron here and the racist links can probably be found but they will be in Spanish. Here in Florida we have an abundance of all three nationalities, they dont listen to the same music, they don't go to the same parties, they don't even really speak the same language. However in the greater scheme of things the brown skin and ability to speak Spanish will weigh heavily in her favor among all the Spanish speaking nationalities. Over in Huffpo it has been pointed out that a battle by the Republicans against Sotomayor will be a battle against all Hispanics. Given the speed that the Hispanic population is growing and the rapidity that Republicans are losing their votes it is a battle they fight at their own peril.
The Politics of Sotomayor

NWP, the candidate appears to be imminently qualified for the position, no Harriet Myers here. The politics of getting said candidate onto the Supreme Court is going to be a bloody fight though with possibly far reaching implications.

Greger - you mean there are qualifications to be considered? Knowledge, experience, that kind of thing?

Coulda fooled me. I thought for a minute this thread was going to break into a medley of tunes from "West Side Story!"

Sonia Sotomayor has served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit since October 1998. She has been hailed as "one of the ablest federal judges currently sitting" for her thoughtful opinions,i and as "a role model of aspiration, discipline, commitment, intellectual prowess and integrity"ii for her ascent to the federal bench from an upbringing in a South Bronx housing project.
Her American story and three decade career in nearly every aspect of the law provide Judge Sotomayor with unique qualifications to be the next Supreme Court Justice. She is a distinguished graduate of two of America`s leading universities. She has been a big-city prosecutor and a corporate litigator. Before she was promoted to the Second Circuit by President Clinton, she was appointed to the District Court for the Southern District of New York by President George H.W. Bush. She replaces Justice Souter as the only Justice with experience as a trial judge.
Judge Sotomayor served 11 years on the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, one of the most demanding circuits in the country, and has handed down decisions on a range of complex legal and constitutional issues. If confirmed, Sotomayor would bring more federal judicial experience to the Supreme Court than any justice in 100 years, and more overall judicial experience than anyone confirmed for the Court in the past 70 years. Judge Richard C. Wesley, a George W. Bush appointee to the Second Circuit, said "Sonia is an outstanding colleague with a keen legal mind. She brings a wealth of knowledge and hard work to all her endeavors on our court. It is both a pleasure and an honor to serve with her."
In addition to her distinguished judicial service, Judge Sotomayor is a Lecturer at Columbia University Law School and was also an adjunct professor at New York University Law School until 2007. There's a lot more...

thanks, Greger.

As Greger pointed out, she would appear to be well-qualified for the job and to have some political appeal to both parties.

Had he so desired, i'm sure that the President could have come up with a white, male justice of equal qualification; however, as Issodhos pointed out, there are theoretically two lists from which such a candidate could have been selected.

The whole process will somewhat resemble in microcosm the 1870 Hohenzollern candidacy for the Spanish throne: There will be conflicts and bad blood and finger-pointing and demands for "assurances" and blood on the Senate floor...but there will be no Ems dispatch, no Sedan and no siege of Paris.