Is it possible? Is there really link between President Obama’s bold nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, with possible movement or non-movement on Immigration Reform this fall? The folks over at http://www.electoral-vote.com/ note that there may be a link:
“A side effect of the Sotomayor nomination is that it may allow Obama to delay dealing with immigration reform for a while since Latino voters will be feeling good about him for a while just due to this nomination. On the other hand, if Obama (or more realistically, Rahm Emanuel) wants to enjoy the spectacle of the GOP tearing itself to bits, reintroducing the McCain-Kennedy immigration bill would be a good first start. The Tancredo wing the the Republican party will go all out to block it because it provides a path to citizenship for over 10 million illegals currently in the U.S. But an all out fight against these people–many of whom have friends and relatives who are citizens (and voters) will further alienate Latinos from the Republican Party. In contrast, the only major Democratic constituency that might oppose the bill is the labor movement, but there are probably other ways to mollify them (e.g., an all out push for card check).”
The reality is that with Judge Sotomayor’s nomination we could actually see an even stronger movement toward immigration reform. Clearly, by nominating a Latina to the highest Court in the land, President Obama has sent a very strong message to his Latino constituency. The question remains, however, is this enough of a message to delay immigration reform? My guess–absolutely not. One nominee to the Supreme Court still does not balance the incredible harm still being done to the legal and undocumented Latino community by the continuing aggressive and race based immigration enforcement only program the Obama administration continues to employ. Only when Driving While Hispanic is an historical footnote will the Latino vote be satisfied that America has lived up to her true potential.