[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/06/09/art.sotomayor0609.gi.jpg caption="Following a one-on-one meeting with Judge Sonia Sotomayor, Republican Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida predicted the Supreme Court nominee will confirmed by the Senate."]
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Following a one-on-one meeting with Judge Sonia Sotomayor, Republican Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida predicted the Supreme Court nominee will confirmed by the Senate.
"I would expect that she would be confirmed with pretty good numbers," he told reporters.
Martinez stopped short of endorsing her nomination, saying he wants to wait until after her confirmation hearings are held. But he had very positive things to say about her personal and judicial background, and said she would "fit in" very well on the Supreme Court.
Martinez, the only Hispanic Republican in the Senate, said he is not concerned about Sotomayor's controversial "wise Latina" comments because he said there is no evidence that sentiment has influenced her judicial decisions.
"For someone who is of Latin background, personally, I understand what she is trying to say. Which is, the richness of her experience forms who she is. It forms who I am," Martinez said.
It aggrevates me to no end the racial tone taking to the nomination of Sotomayor...she is extremely qualified....she had the gumption for the role...she is one of the best in her field...give the woman the respect she has earned..it's not about race, or even politics (well, shouldn't be).she is simply qualified.
Must be "Obvious Day" at camp stupid.
It's a beautiful thing to have a wise Latino man in the Republican Party and the Senate...wait, was that a racist comment?
Ironically, this actually proves Sotomayor's point because the Latino Republican and the female Republicans have been handling this issue better than many(not all) of their Republican Colleagues who happen to be white and male.
No. She has to answer the questions first. She has shown that she is a racist. perhaps she wants to make our nation a latina nation. Hypocrite.
Well, of course she will be confirmed, ya nut!!
We have become so blatantly politically correct! Dare not disagree or vote against a minority; you will be labeled racist, fear-monger and the like.
The argument made so many times during the last few weeks: had a white man made supremacy statements, like Sotomayor, he would be hung up to dry and banned to a remote island!
Dems love a liberal racist.
A voice of reason from within the Republican Party!?!
Yea, coming from somone of color. Repubicans will kill their party if they don't confirm Sonia SotoMayor. Repubicans will lose all their minority voters if they aint al ready have.
@ James, who said "We have a dictatorship in America now. No choice for the people."
Coming from anyone who supports the policies of the Bush administration and/or the GOP from the past 8 years during the single largest expansion of Executive Branch power and their current positions of supporting the continuation of Bush admin policies like Gitmo and torture, attempting to use fear of terrorism, misleading McCarthyistic blabber about socialism, using language borrowed from the American Revolutionary War to spark threats of secession and cater to right-wing extremists' nightmares, etc., that statement above wins the all-time award for hypocrisy.
She will and should be confirmed. She is a bit hung up on the identity politics stuff but her judicial record is solid. She is not a raving liberal activist like some conservatives claim. She is tough on crime and oftens follows legal precedant.
I really don't get the racism complaint from the right. I've read her speeches and though I'm only a high school graduate I fail to see this huge racism problem.. Seems to me most of the racism in our country comes from the right.......Is it ignorance or just stupidity that causes the right to not understand what a person says..
Steve-Mich
But....but...but, but, she's racist! Listen to me, she's racist! Why does no one pay attention to my ranting?? Oh well, I guess I'll just have to wait for Newt, Palin, and Rush to tell me what to believe next.
""For someone who is of Latin background, personally, I understand what she is trying to say. Which is, the richness of her experience forms who she is. It forms who I am," Martinez said."
Uh, oh. I suspect Lush, and the rest of the GOP will call Martinez a racist for agreeing with Sotomayor on this. The question is, will he apologize for it?
The Republicans, certainly pretty dumb, are not stupid! They will not dare fight the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court. They are too hungry for votes to not confirm her.
They are already running for the Presidency in 2012 and if they fight too hard on her confirmation they face loosing minority votes. The Republicans are all about power and to hell with the American people.
To all who think that Republicans who vote against her will not be re-elected remember this. 46% of americans voted Republican. Many who voted democratic did so not as a vote for the democratic nominee but against Bush and the republican nominee. There are a HUGE number of voters just waiting for the republicans to make a stand for American values, put politics on the back burner and vote for whats right. If that happens, the majority in congress will not only switch to the right but Obama can be guaranteed to be a one and done.
It's amusing at best to hear Republicans complain and accuse Sotomayor of being a racist.
They sound like SS collaborators complaining about being 'mistreated' after Liberation.
"Please don't hit us, we're people too!"
It will be a dark day for America if this far lefter is confirmed.