Sotomayor Hearings: Round 1

Ding. Ding.

As my man Adam Corolla says, "Let's get it on...got to get it on." This morning at 10 a.m., the Senate Judiciary Committee will be gaveled to order by Chairman Pat Leahy and the bloodletting will begin. Let's be clear, this is all just theater. Everyone knows Obama's nominee Sonia Sotomayor is not just supremely qualified, but they also know she represents an idea who's time has come. If the Supreme Court of the United States is going to accurately reflect the people of the United States, it is hard to deny that it is time for a minority woman, and a hispanic at that, to sit on the highest court in the land.

Now before some have a hissy fit, please realize that in addition to the color of her skin and ovaries in her body, I also stated Sotomayor was "supremely qualified." Sorry, but that is a fact. The woman has more judicial and education chops than Justice Alito, so you cannot argue that fact.

No instead, what you will see over the next few days is an attempt to bloody President Obama a bit, by knocking his SCOTUS nominee around some. It is all an exercise in futility, because the Democrats have the votes and there are going to be plenty of Republicans who will want nothing to do with having a vote against a hispanic nominee anywhere near their record.

But an important thing to remember this week, is who will be leading this attack on Sotomayor, Alabama Republican Senator Jeff Beauregard Sessions III. And no, I did not make his middle name up. I am eager to watch Sessions attack Sotomayor for, say...her comments about the "wise Latina" remark.

See...Session's knows a little something about confirmation hearings, having been shot down in his own quest for a federal judgeship as a Reagan nominee back in mid-'80s. And what was Session's undoing? He's a racist prick. I know, shocker for a Senator from Alabama with a third generation middle name of Beauregard, no? During his hearings all kind of shit came out about Sessions and racist comments he would make:

Senate Democrats tracked down a career Justice Department employee named J.
Gerald Hebert, who testified, albeit reluctantly, that in a conversation between
the two men Sessions had labeled the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
"un-American" and "Communist-inspired."

Hebert said Sessions had claimed these groups "forced civil rights down the throats of people."Hebert said Sessions had claimed these groups "forced civil rights down the throats of people."

In his confirmation hearings, Sessions sealed his own fate by saying such groups could be construed as "un-American" when "they involve themselves in promoting un-American positions" in foreign policy.

Hebert testified that the young lawyer tended to "pop off" on such topics regularly, noting that Sessions had called a white civil rights lawyer a "disgrace to his race" for litigating voting rights cases. Sessions acknowledged making many of the statements attributed to him but claimed that most of the time he had been joking, saying he was sometimes "loose with [his] tongue." He further admitted to calling the Voting Rights Act of 1965 a "piece of intrusive legislation," a phrase he stood behind even in his confirmation hearings.

So this is the GOP's hatchet man for the confirmation hearings. He is not as one would say "down with the brown." Keep all this in mind as this week unfolds.