Simple – she’s willing to obfuscate about her racism, and the GOP isn’t willing to go the mat over it.

Oh yes, there’s been a couple of firecrackers lit off during the hearings, and a couple of GOP Senators have ensured that the right has had their feeding of red meat – as reported in Sen. Jeff Sessions ROCKS THE SENATE during Sotomayor Hearings

But lets be clear folks – when you have a person interviewing for a JOB FOR LIFE, which is ANSWERABLE to NOBODY,  you have a certain amount of incentive to sit in your chair, smile and give circuitous answers or simply refuse to answer questions.  A very frustrating experience, I am sure, for the GOP Senators.  The Democrats just have to sit back, relax and be nice to Judge Sotomayor, and let the GOP fulfill their image of being a bunch of mean old white dudes. 

The testimony of two of the firefighters involved in the Ricci case sums up the entire episode in words echoing that Martin Luther King.   Read their amazing story at SCOTUS finds Firefighters WERE Discriminated Against! 

Ben Vargas:

I am Hispanic and proud of their heritage and background that Judge Sotomayor and I share. And I congratulate Judge Sotomayor on her nomination.

But the focus should not have been on me being Hispanic. The focus should have been on what I did to our new promotion to captain and how my own government and some courts responded to that. In short, they didn’t care…..

I was shocked when I was not rewarded for this hard work and sacrifice, but I actually was penalized for it. I became not Ben Vargas, the fire lieutenant who proved themselves qualified to be captain, but a racist statistic. I had to make decisions whether to join those who wanted promotions to be based on race and ethnicity or join those who would insist on being judged solely on their qualifications and the content of their character.

Frank Ricci:

In our profession, the racial and ethnic makeup of my crew is the least important thing to us and to the public we serve. I believe the countless Americans who had something to say about our case understand that now.

Firefighters and their leaders stand between their fellow citizens and catastrophe. Americans want those who are the most knowledgeable and qualified to do the task. I am willing to risk and even lay down my life for fellow citizens, but I was not willing to go along with those who place racial identity over these more critical considerations.

I am not a lawyer, but I quickly learned about the law as it applies to this case. Studying it as much I studied for my exam, I thought it clear that we were denied our fundamental civil rights. I expected Lady Justice with the blindfold on, and a reasoned court from a federal court of appeals telling me, my fellow plaintiffs and the public that the court’s view on the law — what the court’s view on the law was and do it in an open and transparent way.

Instead, we were devastated to see a one paragraph unpublished order summarily dismissing our case, and indeed even the notion that we had presented important legal issues to that court of appeals. I expected the judges who heard my case along the way to make the right decisions, the ones required by the rule of law.

Of all that has been written about our case, it was Justice Alito who best captured our own feelings. We did not ask for sympathy or empathy. We asked only for even-handed enforcement of the law and prior to the majority justice opinion in our case, we were denied just that.

 (Source: Washington Post)

And when its all finished, she will be confirmed because, well, no Senator is willing to hold anyone accountable for their long professed views.  Why?  Because they want the same kind of deniability.