Little Drama on Sotomayor's First Day
Sonia Sotomayor was a few sentences into her remarks when she turned from the witness table and faced the first row of guests behind her. There sat her mother and her family. "Thank you mom," the judge whispered. I was sitting a few rows away and can tell you not only that it was as genuine a private moment as you see on the Hill, but also one that encapsulates the difficulties the GOP will have in trying to derail the judge's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.
These nominations, and the hearings that accompany them, have long since ceased to be dry exercises in jurisprudential oversight. They are, and for decades have been, political theater. And that means they have become character dramas, in which the life narratives and the on-air personalities of the nominees mean as much as decisions rendered or speeches made.
All morning long, Republicans on the committee had portrayed Sotomayor as an out-of-the-mainstream judicial wild person, untethered to the Constitution, respect for precedent or a respect for the primacy of logic over emotion in the law. But unless they are able to prove their charges–and that will be very hard to do, based on her liberal but really rather cautious record as a judge—they will only make it easier for her to reassure the public by invoking personal symbols of her life.
It's clear what she and the White House are up to. They are selling Sotomayor with what can be called the mom-and-baseball defense: her love of family, her love of baseball, her love of her godchildren and solidarity with her ethnic community (who were represented here in Spanish-speaking force). All of that, she said, shows that "the progression of my life has been uniquely American." She spoke slowly, carefully, and ploddingly, schooled by White House prep sessions in how not to seem like a pushy New Yorker. Her supporters laid it on thick, with scripts that could have been written (or filmed) by Frank Capra or Jerry Seinfeld.
The Republicans know what is happening. They don't like it, but there is not much they can do about it. As Sen. Lindsay Graham said, "Unless you have a complete meltdown you're going to get confirmed"—and he added that he didn't think she would melt down. As things look right now, Sotomayor has a chance to get Graham's vote, and perhaps Sen. Orrin Hatch's as well. She won't get any another's. Beneath the surface of personal pageantry, the partisan bitterness and rancor on the committee was palpable. Democrats feel they were had by Judge John Roberts—now Chief Justice Roberts—who has turned out to be far less of a hale fellow well met and far more of a right-wing ideologue than they expected.
Part of the emerging Democratic strategy seemed to be to attack Roberts as much as to defend Sotomayor. Their argument seemed to be: don't accuse her of being an "activist." She's nothing compared with Roberts! No one out in the country will pay much attention to that line of argument in any case. The GOP will no doubt force Sotomayor to publicly recant—again—her "wise Latina" comment. I predict that she will do so with humility and grace, while at the same time defending the notion that diversity itself is a good thing.
It could be the only moment of real drama.
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Howard Fineman is Newsweek's Senior Washington Correspondent and Columnist, senior editor and deputy Washington bureau chief. He is the author of "Living Politics," a column that began on MSNBC.COM and Newsweek.com and that now also appears in the print magazine. An award-winning reporter and writer, Fineman also is an analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, appearing regularly on "Countdown with Keith Olbermann," "Hardball with Chris Matthews" and "TODAY." The author of scores of Newsweek cover stories, Fineman's work has appeared as well in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The New Republic. His 2008 national best-selling book, "The Thirteen American Arguments," was released in paperback by Random House in the spring of 2009.
One of the nation's leading political reporters, Fineman has interviewed every major presidential candidate from (then-vice president) George H.W. Bush in 1985 to (then senator) Barack Obama early and often in the 2008 campaign cycle. His current work focuses on the Obama Administration and its top officials, as well as on Congress and politics throughout the country. Although based in Washington, Fineman travels widely in the U.S. and has covered politics and other events in 49 of the 50 states.
Fineman's work has produced many milestones and awards. A cover story in November 2001 featured President George W. Bush's first extensive interview after 9/11. Another cover, "Bush and God," was part of a series of articles that won the 2003 National Magazine Award for General Excellence. His reporting has helped Newsweek win many honors from the Magazine Publishers Association and the American Journalism Review. Other awards include a "Page One" from the Headliners Club of New York, a "Silver Gavel" from the American Bar Association and a "Deadline Club" from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). In 2006 he received the Alumni Award from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.
As a reporter and writer, Fineman ranges widely. Besides campaign-year covers, other projects have included: race and politics, the impact of digital technology on society, the influence of Hollywood on politics, the rise of the religious right and of conservative talk radio. He has interviewed business leaders such as George Soros, Bill Gates, Steve Case and Robert Rubin and entertainment figures such as Warren Beatty, Jane Fonda and Jay Leno.
Although now under exclusive television contract to NBC, Fineman over the years has appeared on major public affairs shows, such as Nightline, Face the Nation, Fox News Sunday, Larry King Live, Charlie Rose and the NewsHour. He was a regular panelist on Washington Week in Review on PBS (1983-95) and on CNN's Capital Gang Sunday (1995-98). He worked with Ted Koppel on Nightline specials, and has been a guest on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report."
A native of Pittsburgh, Fineman began his career at The Courier-Journal in Louisville, covering the environment, the coal industry and state politics before joining the newspaper's Washington bureau in 1978. He moved to Newsweek in 1980, was named chief political correspondent in 1984, deputy Washington bureau chief in 1993, senior editor in 1995 and senior Washington correspondent and columnist in 2008.
Fineman holds an A.B., Phi Beta Kappa, from Colgate, an M.S. in journalism from Columbia and a J.D. from the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. His legal education included a year as a visiting student at the Georgetown University Law Center. He received Watson and Pultizer Traveling Fellowships for study in Europe, Russia and the Middle East, and has traveled to more than 40 countries, among them China, Vietnam, Japan, Ukraine, Israel, Turkey and the West Bank Palestinian Territories.
Fineman is married to Amy L. Nathan, a senior counsel at the Federal Communications Commission. They live in Washington with their two children, Meredith and Nicholas.
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