Analysis: Republican Party uses Sotomayor hearings to define itself but treads carefully

Analysis: GOP does political straddle on Sotomayor

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans came to praise Sonia Sotomayor, but not necessarily to vote for her.

That was the straddle that numerous GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee attempted at the opening of hearings Monday on the woman who would be the first Latina to sit on the Supreme Court. Seizing on their best chance to reach the American public since Barack Obama won the White House, they criticized Sotomayor harshly — but only after offering her warm welcomes and plaudits designed to avoid alienating Hispanics and women.

The goal is to brush aside issues of gender and race — two distinct disadvantages for the GOP — and focus instead on scoring points against Obama and Democrats.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., summed it up this way as the two parties began their war of words over Sotomayor: “The Hispanic element of this hearing is important, but I don’t want it to be lost — this is mostly about liberal and conservative politics.”

In the next breath, Graham acknowledged the political reality of the battle: His party, seeking to define itself out of the political wilderness, is bound to lose.

He predicted Sotomayor would be confirmed barring “a complete meltdown” — and said he thought one was unlikely. In fact, he signaled he’ll likely cast his vote for the judge, because, after all, “President Obama won the election, and I respect that.”

Obama did so with about two-thirds of the Hispanic vote.

Unfortunately for the GOP, it’s tough to separate Sotomayor’s personal characteristics from the debate over her confirmation. The visual in the packed Capitol Hill hearing room reinforced that point. The all-white, all-male Republican contingent on the panel faced a Hispanic woman — who, on top of everything else, has a broken ankle that has her limping through Senate hallways and occasionally elevating her foot to prevent swelling.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, the committee’s Democratic chairman, opened the hearings with pointed warnings to Republicans. Criticize her at your own risk, he seemed to say.

“Those who break barriers often face the added burden of overcoming prejudice,” Leahy said, recalling how the Supreme Court’s first black, Jew and Catholic all faced racial and religious bias during their confirmation hearings. “Let no one demean this extraordinary woman.”

Republicans fully acknowledge the sensitivity of their task. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the committee’s top Republican, started the day by saying his side had to strike a balance between coming across as a “potted plant” and overreaching.

For much of Sotomayor’s first day, that meant senators directed their fiercest fire not toward the judge but toward Obama and his comment — made before choosing her — that he wanted a justice with “the quality of empathy.”

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said he hoped “every American is proud that a Hispanic woman has been nominated to sit on the Supreme Court,” but minutes later he accused Obama of being “simply outside the mainstream in his statements about how judges should decide cases.”

And Sotomayor, Kyl said, “may indeed allow — and even embrace — decision-making based on her biases and prejudices.”

Outside the hearing room, GOP strategists were much more pointed in their criticisms. Senate officials sent out e-mail blasts — headlined “Confirmation Conversion” — that accused Sotomayor of flip-flopping on issues such as impartiality, the effect experiences have had on her judging, and adherence to the law.

Republicans acknowledge privately that their only hope for benefiting politically from Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings is if they’re able to put Democrats from conservative-leaning states in a tough position for backing her.

To that end, they’ll focus on charges by gun rights activists that Sotomayor is hostile to the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. The issue is a powerful one for voters across the political spectrum.

“Americans need to know whether you would limit … the scope of the Second Amendment and whether we can count on you to uphold of one of the fundamental liberties enshrined in the Bill of Rights,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

Of course Cornyn, who leads his party’s campaign committee and whose own constituents are one-third Hispanic, is as conscious as anyone that he can’t come across as targeting Sotomayor because of her race or gender.

“Your nomination,” Cornyn said, “should make us all feel good as Americans.”

EDITOR’S NOTE — Julie Hirschfeld Davis has covered Congress and the White House since 1997.

(This version CORRECTS the editor’s note.)