In Obama Nominee Sotomayor, a Supreme Opportunity for Republicans

Mary Kate Cary

It was the summer of 1987, and Sen. Ted Kennedy raced to the Senate floor within an hour of the announcement of President Reagan's latest Supreme Court nominee. "Robert Bork's America," Kennedy said, "is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the government, and the doors of the federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens."

It's been two decades since that shocking speech, and Washington has never forgotten it. Just about every Supreme Court nomination since then has been incendiary, divisive, and deeply ideological. Clarence Thomas called this a "high-tech lynching." During the Senate's most recent nomination battle, Republicans had to threaten the "nuclear option" of parliamentary maneuvers to block a possible Democratic filibuster of Samuel Alito.

But this time, maybe things can be different. Instead of viewing the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court as President Obama's opening shot across the bow, Republicans should see it as wind for their sails. With recent Gallup polls showing just about every major demographic group leaving the GOP in droves, the Sotomayor nomination could be just what the party needs to regain speed with voters.

The Senate Republicans know the hard truth: The Democrats have the numbers to break a filibuster and confirm the nomination. Chances are Sotomayor will get confirmed no matter what the Republicans do. So why not make lemonade out of lemons? The GOP has lately lacked any sort of policy vision—or even guiding principles—and the only people we ever seem to hear from are Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh. It's time for a thoughtful discussion of what Republicans believe "fairness under the law" means today. Why they believe judicial activism is bad for our country. What's at stake for families and businesses when judges write laws from the bench.

GOP senators should carefully and thoughtfully spell out any differences they have with Sotomayor's judicial philosophy. No need to get into wedge issues like gay marriage, abortion, or stem cells. No "Sonia Sotomayor's America" speeches. Just stick with her overall approach, her ideas of equality under the law, and why moderates might be concerned about her judgments. This is a great opportunity for Republicans to calmly lay out their judicial philosophy, the principles they hold dear, and the values they prize in a good judge. They should stay on the high road.

Recall what happens when politicians take the low road. Remember the Satur day Night Live skits skewering the senators in the Thomas hearings, asking lurid and leering questions? Chris Farley played Howell Heflin, and I could never take the senator seriously again. The last thing the GOP needs is to be even more of a laughing stock than it already is.

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge said last weekend that the GOP is "too doggone shrill," and he's right. "I think for the American public, for the Republican Party to restore itself not as a regional party but as a national party, we now have to be far less judgmental about disagreements within the party and far more judgmental about our disagreement with our friends on the other side of the aisle," he said. Republicans have an opportunity to speak as one from the center, laying out a positive message about their principles and values rather than sniping at one another on the sidelines, arguing over which faction is more outraged at the idea of putting a liberal on the Supreme Court.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is not on the Judiciary Committee and so won't play an official role at the hearings, but the GOP should put her front and center at every press availability on the nomination. Hutchison will need moderates, women, and Hispanic voters if she pursues a rumored primary bid against Gov. Rick Perry in the Texas gubernatorial race. So while the stakes are high for everyone, Hutchison probably has the most to lose of any Republican in the Senate if this degenerates into another horrible spectacle like the one Justice Thomas endured.

Like Thomas, Sotomayor has a great life story. In fact, it's the kind that Republicans should salute: She grew up in public housing. She gave herself insulin injections from the age of 8. Her father died young, and her widowed mom raised her. She got herself into Princeton and Yale and worked her way up the legal ladder: in the courtroom, in private practice, on the trial bench. Unlike a lot of the sitting Supreme Court justices, she has actually tried a case. She didn't come from the ivory tower. That's the kind of American Dream-come-true the Republican Party is great at celebrating. GOP-ers should honor her life story in every statement they make. The party cannot afford to look anti-Hispanic or anti-woman in any way right now. No matter how much they disagree with her ideologically, they should applaud her accomplishments.