Sotomayor hearings begin today

Confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor are set to begin today. Sotomayor could become the nation’s first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.

But it is her Latina heritage that has some politicians uneasy about Sotomayor taking the bench. When Sotomayor asserted, “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life,” some pointed to this statement as racist and question if Sotomayor’s background will unfairly affect her judicial rulings.

On Sunday, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, appeared on the CBS program “Face the Nation” to outline concerns over what he called Sotomayor’s possible racial bias. Meanwhile Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, appearing on the same program, stressed that, “She has a track record and she has shown to be a mainstream judge.”

The Women’s Media Center has released an interesting (and infuriating) collage of video clips highlighting how Sotomayor has been portrayed by many media outlets. You can check it out below.

What do you think of Sotomayor’s “wise Latina” statement, of her nomination and of her treatment by mainstream media?

See the confirmation hearings live at CNN.com.