Sonia Sotomayor, a judge from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, has been tapped by the Obama Administration to replace retiring Justice Souter on the Supreme Court. Of course, you would have to have been living under a rock for the past few weeks not to know that. Her nomination is historical in that she will be the first Latina to serve on the Court, and undoubtedly Justice Ginsberg is pleased that she will have another female colleague on the bench. And while her confirmation to the bench is almost guaranteed, it will be interesting to see the GOP’s strategy in approaching this nomination.

Ever since the nomination (and rejection) of Judge Robert Bork in 1987, the process by which a potential justice is confirmed by the Senate has become much more partisan. Chief Justice Roberts, who by all accounts was and is fully qualified to serve as a Justice on the Court, was confirmed by a 78-22 vote; Justice Alito was confirmed with only 58 votes. Compare this with the much more idealogically polarizing Justice Scalia, who in 1986 was confirmed by a vote of 98-0. What can be gleaned from all of this is that the Bork and Thomas confirmations were long, arduous, and ugly from a political perspective.

The fact of the matter is, the appointment power is one of the strongest and most distinct powers that a President has, and the check on that power should be in the political process exercised by the citizens in electing a President, not by the Senate in seeking to apply some sort of litmus test against a nominee. And if anyone has any reason to complain for what could be a long road ahead in the confirmation hearings for Sotomayor, Democrats should take a long hard look in the mirror. “You reap what you sew” as the old saying goes.

As for criticism that has been levied against Sotomayor, the only major item I have seen discussed in the media is a statement that she made to a group of students while visiting Duke University School of Law in 2005, something to the effect that “the Court of Appeals is where policy is made.” While I don’t want to put words into the mouth of the Judge, if I had to guess, I would estimate that her statement amounts to a bad choice of words for the idea that, at the Circuit level, the balance between allocation of finite judicial resources and the interest of litigants in effective and legitimate process is determined. But I expect the Judge will be taken to task for that statement (and assuredly countless others) during her confirmation hearings, and she will be allowed to answer in due course.

At bottom, Sotomayor, if confirmed, will be sworn in under oath, which provides that she will “discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon [her] under the Constitution and laws of the United States”; the same oath that has been administered to every other sitting Justice on the Court. As exciting as the nomination is, and as politically charged as it may be in the upcoming weeks and months, Sotomayor is qualified to hold the position, and therefore her confirmation should not be impeaded by of political grandstanding.