I think it is probably okay for me to say Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor was as qualified as any Supreme Court nominee in recent history. Congratuations to her and her family!! She will be great.

Republicans were going to oppose anyone that Barack Obama had chosen. Their goal is to obstruct, obfuscate and delay. They could not delay or obstruct this nomination although they tried. Instead, the Republicans think they have changed the rules of the game. Now, they believe that no Supreme Court nominee can be empathetic. In my opinion, the Republicans painted themselves into a corner. I think it will cost them at the ballot box for years to come. They painted Sotomayor as dumb, stupid, a racist and a feminist. Minorities and women will not reward them for smearing her. In the end, it really doesn't matter what she said outside the courtroom as long as her opinions and rulings were solid. They were solid. There is no doubt that they were. This is why the Republicans attacked her on her public statements.

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What's next? This is one of the things that I'm concerning myself with at this time. Who is Barack Obama's next choice to sit on the Supreme Court? I think that there is a lot to consider. Most importantly, unfortunately you have to take this into consideration, what will the Senate look like. If the choice is between now and the midterm elections, I would suspect that Barack Obama would pick someone who is a strong moderate. Again, I think you would pick someone who is relatively low profile. If the Democrats pick up a few more seats in 2010, I would look for Barack Obama to choose someone who is more liberal than Sonia Sotomayor. This would make things very interesting.

Here are a few names to keep in mind Elena Kagan, first woman to serve as solicitor general and was the Dean of Harvard Law school, Harold Koh, Dean of Yale Law school, Leah Ward Sears, Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court. I look for Obama to lean more towards women. Women are clearly underrepresented on the Court.

There are a few other names that are floating around which would include Janet Napolitano, former governor of Arizona and now Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and Governor Jennifer Granholm, Governor of Michigan. Although both of these women would be great I think they would have a hard time confirmation. The process has become so politicized and politicians are filmed constantly. I'm sure there's some footage of each one of these women saying things that will inflame and incite conservatives. There's no reason to go down that road.