White House, allies ramp up pitch for Sotomayor

In its latest attempt to tamp down what it sees as hysteria from the right on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, the White House this morning sent out an opinion article from New York District Attorney Robert Morgenthau.

"These so-called pundits have pronounced her a 'radical,' an 'activist,' part of the 'far left,' an 'affirmative action case' and, most astoundingly, a 'racist,' " Morgenthau wrote in the piece published today in the New York Daily News, neatly summarizing many of the criticisms lodged against Sotomayor.

"We were not long left in suspense as to whether this administration's judicial nominees can expect to be vetted with objectivity and due civility," Morgenthau continued. "I have known Judge Sotomayor for decades, and I know how absurd these charges are."

She worked as an assistant district attorney for Morgenthau for five years before going into private practice and then to the federal bench.

An anti-illegal immigration group jumped into the fray this afternoon, announcing that it is launching a national campaign to oppose Sotomayor for it called her "racist" comments and her membership in the National Council of La Raza, a prominent Latino advocacy group.

"The US Supreme Court is no place for brown or Hispanic supremacists like Sonia Sotomayor," William Gheen, president of the Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, said in a statement. "We hope the US Senate will reject this overt attempt by the Obama administration to put a woman with racist views and affiliations in a seat of power over all Americans."

With Democrats firmly in control of the Senate, Sotomayor is likely to be confirmed. But the White House knows that the only real way for her nomination to be scuttled is if conservative advocacy groups are able to raise a big enough stink about her that she is forced to withdraw. That battle between interest groups on both sides started full-bore on Wednesday, the day after President Obama announced his nomination.

And this afternoon, a message went out under Vice President Joe Biden's name urging Obama's grassroots supporters to sign an online petition supporting Sotomayor.

"President Obama hit a home run with his nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court -- and not just because she's the 'woman who saved baseball; by ending the strike in 1995, nor simply because she would be the first Latina ever to serve on the high court," Biden wrote.

"It was a home run because in her three-decade career as a prosecutor, judge, private litigator and law professor, she has time and again earned bipartisan praise as one of America's finest legal minds. And it was the right choice because Judge Sotomayor -- herself born and raised in a South Bronx housing project -- has summed up the American dream in her own incredible story and never once forgotten how the law affects our daily lives."

UPDATE: Americans United for Change, a pro-Obama coalition of liberal and labor groups, produced a Spanish-language web video urging viewers to call their senator to support Sotomayor.

"Sonia Sotomayor. A federal judge nominated by the first President Bush and promoted by President Bill Clinton," the announcer says. "Born in New York, daughter of Puerto Rican parents. Her father died shen she was 9, but her mother raised her children to succeed in life. She graduated from catholic high school and then Princeton University and Yale Law School. As judge, she has been fair, protecting both the Constitution and the rights of all Americans.

"Now she will have the opportunity to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States of America. Sonia Sotomayor."