A real surprise is the announcement by conservative activist Ken Starr, the independent counsel who investigated President Bill Clinton and played a major role in the promotion of his impeachment in 1998, that he was backing the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court.
Despite the fact that Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, other conservative talk show hosts, Senator James Inhofe, Senator Pat Roberts, former Reagan Attorney General Ed Meese and many other conservatives and Republicans are organizing to fight her nomination, Starr declared that he "thinks very well" of Sotomayor, although he wants her statements and record fully investigated, of course.
It is clear that there will be some conservatives and Republicans, including some in the Senate, who will recognize the superior credentials of Sotomayor, and will vote to confirm her after hearings in July, conducted by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The character assassination that is going on about her will ultimately fail, and we will get the first Hispanic woman on the Supreme Court, a body which has only seen two African American men, two women, and only seven Jewish justices, and only a small number of Catholics in its 220 year history. It is time for diversity on the Court, even more than just Sotomayor herself.Â
The country is changing in its population, and the Supreme Court over time needs to reflect that change!