The Democratic Party seems to be obsessed with race, and it’s true when it comes to racial quotas in employee hirings and college admissions, although they prefer the euphemism “affirmative action.” I say “seems” because when it comes to judicial nominees or anything else in government, politics trumps race.

The Democrats and their media allies made the most unprincipled and vicious attacks on Clarence Thomas and Miguel Estrada, both of whom were of superior qualifications and never said anything as outrageous as Sotomayor. It’s somewhat ironic that liberals are quick to label principled opposition of Sotomayor as “racist”, when it is they who engage in unprincipled attacks against conservative minorities, including accusations of being ‘inauthentically’ black or Hispanic.

The Democrats blocked Miguel Estrada from the federal appeals court believing he was conservative and likely headed for the Supreme Court. So when the Democrats and the liberal media start swooning over the thought of the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice, what they really mean is the first liberal Hispanic Supreme Court Justice. Like the phonies that they are, it has nothing to do with race, but everything to do with ideology. There were no celebrations from the left when the Republicans nominated the first black Secretary of State and the first black female Secretary of State. Those firsts apparently don’t count.

Instead of Democrats and the media just admitting that they want liberal minorities appointed in government, they play these deceitful race games of feigning concern for minority advancement. While there was no respectable reason to oppose either Estrada or Thomas, there are good reasons to oppose Sotomayor and it has nothing to do with race. Based on her activist record and highly controversial statements that reveal a disrespect for the Constitution and role of the judiciary, she is clearly unqualified to sit on any court, yet alone the Supreme Court.