Republicans said Wednesday that they won’t try to filibuster Sonia Sotomayor’s(so-to-may-YOURS) Supreme Court nomination. Even if they did, there’s little chance they could block her confirmation as the first Hispanic justice. Democrats hold a solid majority of votes.

Conservative groups have tried to convince the public that Sotomayor is an activist who would mix ethnic and gender bias into her decisions.

U.S.C. Assistant Professor Randazzo(ran-DAZ-yo) directs the school’s Judicial Research Initiative which compiles judicial politics in the U.S. and internationally. He is also conducting research on the use of Presidential rhetoric during the Supreme Court confirmation process.

Randazzo says Sotomayor is not exactly a liberal pick. He says her voting history is about 50-50 liberal to conservative and is similar to that of Justice David Souter(SUIT-er), a Republican appointee, so it will be hard for opposition to call her liberal.  “And in addition to a basic voting record, she hasn’t ruled on any hot-button issues, like abortion.  Actually, she did rule in one abortion case, but ruled against the abortion rights claim.” 

Randazzo says Sotomayor has an interesting history. She was appointed to the U.S. District Court in New York by the first President Bush, a Republican.   “Then she was elevated to the Court of Appeals of the 2nd Circuit, being confirmed in 1998.  That nomination came through President Clinton.”

President Obama chose federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor as a nominee for Supreme Court Justice Tuesday. If Sotomayor is chosen to fill the seat of retiring Justice David Souter, she would be the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice. Lydia Cotton is a Hispanic community leader in North Charleston and native of Puerto Rico, like Sotomayor. She says the announcement is bitter sweet for her and other local Hispanics.

“Very happy first of all, for the position, but very concerned that they were taken as a way as an advantage for the Latino community. They do not want to look like ‘look, now we have an opportunity to get ahead in this country,’ that’s not what it’s all about,” says Cotton.

And their biggest worry:

“They don’t want to look like ‘okay, this is an opportunity for immigration,’ they really don’t want to look that way. They want to look like this is history in the making, ya know a lot of people will be attacking the judge, looking at it that way, looking for an advantage for the Latino community. We expect from her to follow the law and the Constitution,” says Cotton.

Cotton says she thinks Sotomayor will do just that, and she expects success. The Supreme Court Justice is the highest judicial seat in the United States.