The Sotomayor confirmation and Hispanic tribal voting patterns

Houston Chronicle:

Texas Sen. John Cornyn announced Friday he will vote against Judge Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation as the first Hispanic on the U.S. Supreme Court, even though the decision could carry political risks among his Latino constituents.

The former Texas Supreme Court judge and state attorney general said the “stakes are simply too high” to confirm a jurist to a lifetime appointment who might address looming legal issues “from a liberal, activist perspective.”

In particular, Cornyn said he remained puzzled by Sotomayor's positions on the Second Amendment right to gun possession, government taking of private property and expanding constitutional rights based on foreign law — issues of crucial importance to another base of constituents.

“So at the end of the hearing I found myself still wondering who is the real Judge Sonia Sotomayor and what kind of judge will she be?” the Republican said in a Senate floor speech Friday.

Cornyn, the Senate's GOP campaign fundraiser-in-chief, said it was with “regret and some sadness” that he would oppose her expected confirmation by the Senate Judiciary Committee next Tuesday followed by the full Senate a week later.

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The Texas senator became the fourth member of the Senate GOP leadership to oppose Sotomayor's confirmation, joining Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.; and Republican Policy Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, also announced his opposition on Friday, underscoring that the GOP's conservative loyalists are uniting against President Barack Obama's Supreme Court choice.

The White House had no immediate comment on Cornyn's announcement.

Nor did Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, who has not yet announced her plans.

By opposing Sotomayor, Cornyn potentially risked the support of some Hispanic supporters in Texas, where Hispanics make up 36 percent of the population. Cornyn swept to victory last November over Democrat Rick Noriega with 55 percent of the vote, buoyed in part by support from some Hispanic voters.

State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, chairman of the 44-member Mexican American Legislative Caucus, urged Cornyn to “reconsider the long-term implications of his decision” in light of Texas' fast-growing Hispanic population.

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The position that Senators should vote for Sotomayor because she is Hispanic is clearly racist. But Hispanic voters have a tendency to be very tribal when it comes to politics.

A law school classmate of mine whose mother was Hispanic and whose father was Anglo was appointed as a judge in El Paso, but was defeated when he stood for election because he did not have a Hispanic surname. It is possible that you see this more in judicial elections because most of the voters have no idea who is running unless they are a real screw up. Note how Trey Fischer uses his Hispanic middle name.

Hispanics would be wise to support candidates based on the merits of their positions than their ancestry. That is the way minorities get ahead in elections outside the barrios.

It is clear to me that Sen. Cornyn is basing his opinion on the candidates judicial record and her responses during teh confirmation process and not on her race. I am confidant if the nominee had been Miguel Estrada who is a first rate legal mind and also Hispanic, Cornyn would have given him enthusiastic support. Did Hispanics vote against Democrats who would not even give him a confirmation hearing? I wish Trey Fischer would have been asked about the Estrada nomination.