Terms Of Confirmation

So, at last, it's over. She's been confirmed. It's about time, wouldn't you say? Unless you've been living in a cave or too busy listening to far-right conspiracy theories about the President being born in a place other than the United States, Sonia Sotomayor won confirmation yesterday as the nation's first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice in a history-making Senate vote that capped a summer-long debate heavy with politics. According to NBC News, she will be sworn in this coming Saturday and Chief Justice John Roberts will administer both the constitutional and judicial oaths. The Senate vote was 68-31 to confirm Sotomayor, President Barack Obama's first Supreme Court nominee.

The 55 year old daughter of Puerto Rican parents was raised in a South Bronx housing project and educated in the Ivy League before rising to the highest legal echelons, spending the past 17 years as a federal judge. As to be expected (ho... hum...yawn), a majority of Republicans lined up against her, arguing she'd bring personal bias and a liberal agenda to the bench. But, Democrats praised Sotomayor as an extraordinarily qualified mainstream moderate and touted her elevation to the court as a milestone in the nation's journey toward greater equality and a reaffirmation of the American dream.

Barack Obama, the nation's first African-American president, praised the Senate's vote as "breaking another barrier and moving us yet another step closer toward a more perfect union." Minutes before the vote, Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the Senate's lone Hispanic Democrat, said... "History awaits, and so does an anxious Hispanic community in this country. When she places her hand on the Bible and takes the oath of office, the new portrait of the justices of the Supreme Court will clearly reflect who we are as a nation, what we stand for as a fair, just, and hopeful people."

The Senate chamber was heavy with history as senators took the rare step of assembling at their desks for the vote, rising from their seats to call out "aye" or "nay." The longest-serving senator, 91 year old Robert Byrd of West Virginia, who has been in frail health following a long hospitalization, was brought in a wheelchair to vote in Sotomayor's favor. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), who is suffering from brain cancer, was the only senator absent.

Yes, a truly historic moment, once again and a step in the right direction. Hopefully, that means that not just the Supreme Court but, one day, every branch of American government will truly look like the American people it supposedly governs and serves. All of the American people... African American, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, Female, Gay, etc. and not just one group of people.

I don't know why anybody in this day and age feels threatened somehow if the President doesn't look like them or if there is a Supreme Court Justice that doesn't look or speak like them. (Will they be asking for her birth certificate next week, declaring that she was born in Spain?) I'm going to come down off my soapbox for just this moment and just be happy for her, her people, and this moment. I'm also celebrating for all Americans because this is an American moment too, just like that day in November of 2008... and I don't care if Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck don't like it. If they got a problem, they can show me their birth certificates because I'm beginning to wonder if they were born in the U.S. or on Mars!

(Another public service announcement from The Maverick of All Bloggers!)