Sotomayor didn't need to justify her "wise Latina" comments, despite "nefarious" opposition from Republicans, according to PA Senator Arlen Specter.

This one time Republican who has helped confirm 11 Supreme Court Justices spoke to AL DÍA about the confirmation of the first Latina to sit on the nation’s highest court and affirmed her's as the strongest record he has seen.

How would you describe Sotomayor’s confirmation process?

I think it was very partisan. It reminds me of what Senator DeMint said about wanting to “break” Obama. He said it about the healthcare plan but I think it applies to Sotomayor as well. The wanted a Waterloo. There’s no reason to deny confirmation to Judge Sotomayor based on her outstanding record.

When they criticize her for a comment about a “wise Latina woman” I think they should commend her. What’s wrong with a little ethnic pride? In a country as diverse as ours, with a Hispanic population like we have in the US, there ought to be representation on the court, and also there ought to be more women on the court.

Was Sotomayor’s confirmation process different from the others you’ve seen?

I’ve been involved in 11 confirmation processes and nobody has come to the nomination process with a better record than her’s; Summa Cum Laude in Princeton, Yale Law, outstanding record in the DA’s office, extraordinary intellect and a great Cinderella story.

I would say there was more resistance. When Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg was summoned I think she got about 90 votes and Judge Ssotomayor’s record is as good as hers.

Do you have ethnic pride?

My story is alot like hers. Both of my parents were born in Russia and came to America in a tough depression. They really worked hard to get a good education, and worked hard to climb the political ladder. I have alot of pride from my roots and where I come from.

Do you think Sotomayor tried to hard to justify her comments?

I think she would have been wiser if she had said that they were a correct statements. I would have preferred for her to have done that, but I can understand why she didn’t, because there’s so much concern that if you say too much you’ll be defeated. During the hearings I urged her to be a strong voice. She’s reputed to have run a “hot bench”, that’s the expression lawyers say about her. She asked tough questions and pushed lawyers, but she’s also known to be a tough litigator and I urged her during the hearings to display that temperament in the conference room and assert the issues and causes that she believes in.

Why are Republicans so afraid of her “wise Latina” comments?

They weren’t afraid of her, they saw that as a chink in her armor that they could use to argue that she would be biased in favor of Latinos, but that’s ridiculous.

So they were being disingenuous?

It was worse than disingenuous. Disingenuous is a polite term. I would say it was nefarious.