It seemed to me that I had barely reached the Court when people were trying to get me off.

- Justice William O. Douglas

    Rush Limbaugh announced on his radio show that President Obama nominated a racist by tapping Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) released a statement questioning Sotomayor's ability to "rule fairly without undue influence from her own personal race, gender, or political preferences." Newt Gingrich and Karl Rove have been Twittering their questionable brains out over the last couple of days reasserting the "racist" accusation.

    The charges stem from a 2003 case Judge Sotomayor ruled on, Ricci v. DeStefano, a race discrimination case in which Sotomayor decided against white firefighters. But, as Slate's Richard Thompson Ford explained in a recent article, the firefighter's claim was rejected "because the test violated Title VII, the federal civil rights law that prevents discrimination in employment. Title VII requires employers to consider the racial impact of their hiring and promotion procedures in order to prevent discrimination that's inadvertent as well as intentional. Ricci's claim is that the city's effort to comply with Title VII is itself race discrimination (under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution and under Title VII itself). This argument would undermine an important part of modern civil rights law."

    So, there's that. Beyond the cries of racism, other voices from the right have contended Obama's high court nominee is a liberal activist, a judicial legislator and someone maybe not quite bright enough to sit on the bench.

    Needless to say, it's on.

    Even the calmest, most deliberate, most awesomely bi-partisan Supreme Court nomination process one can possibly imagine would still be an exercise in bedlam for Washington, DC, politicos and the media. All the oxygen in the city gets sucked into the process, and until the issue is settled, the noise of it has a way of drowning most everything else out. In its worst iteration, the nomination process can level careers, paradigms and whatever else stands in its path. Two such, the failed nomination of Robert Bork and the successful nomination of Clarence Thomas, left behind a residue of resentment and spite that nobody has been able to scrub off the walls to this day.

    Before the nomination of Judge Sotomayor, lots of people were expecting President Obama to replace Justice Souter with someone virtually identical to Justice Souter: moderate, even-tempered, contemplative, and above all else, inoffensive to as much of the galaxy of interested interest groups as could be managed. Instead, Mr. Obama nominated someone moderate, even-tempered, contemplative, profoundly experienced, and above all else, guaranteed to hyperactivate a certain segment of those interested interests while putting the Republican Party in an almost inescapable bind.

    A New York Times editorial from Wednesday nicely captured the essential reality of the Sotomayor nomination. "President Obama seems to have made an inspired choice in picking Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court," wrote the Times. "She has an impressive judicial record, a stellar academic background and a compelling life story. Judge Sotomayor would also be a trailblazing figure in the mold of Thurgood Marshall, becoming the first member of the nation's large and growing but still under-represented Hispanic population to serve on the court. Based on what we know now, the Senate should confirm her so she can join the court when it begins its new term in October."

    The Republican right-wing's campaign of resistance settled into a predictable pattern almost immediately after the announcement. While those voicing opposition to Judge Sotomayor claimed to be surprised and disappointed that Obama chose such a "controversial" nominee, the truth is they've been suiting up for weeks to fight whoever finally got the nod. Their attacks were triggered automatically and would have come no matter what; if Mr. Obama had nominated Jesus of Nazareth to replace Justice Souter, the GOP would now be denouncing Him for favoring a socialist welfare state because He gave away loaves and fishes and circumvented the insurance industry when He raised Lazarus from the dead.

    A fair portion of the arguments against Judge Sotomayor, therefore, have been pro forma, along all the old, well-traveled lines. The fact that Mr. Obama nominated a Hispanic woman to the bench, however, has inspired a particularly shrill reaction from the segment of right-wing interested interests that are somehow genetically hard-wired to freak out whenever someone besides a white male gets a gig in government.

    It was a canny political move on Mr. Obama's part to nominate an indisputably qualified minority woman to the high court, because in doing so, he has once again scrambled the GOP's eggs. As the Times editorial noted, Judge Sotomayor brings all the qualifications one would expect and demand of a Supreme Court justice to the table, and her qualifications are further enhanced by her rich personal history. She is an excellent nominee, and Senate Republicans - already weakened by consecutive electoral defeats and lavishly despised by a majority of Americans - stand demonstrably incapable of thwarting Obama's choice, and run the risk of further damaging their prospects if they try. Unless she is found in bed with a dead girl or a live boy, as the old DC saying goes, smart money says Judge Sotomayor is going to be Justice Sotomayor before the foliage is off the trees this fall.

    The problem for the GOP is they may have to fight Sotomayor even if it means political suicide. The raving messiahs of the GOP base like Limbaugh are already up in arms over a cavalcade of anti-Obama issues and fighting a range war against so-called "moderates" within the party. Now, they're demanding that Senate Republicans fight to the knife to defeat Judge Sotomayor's nomination. If Limbaugh and his fellow rabble-rousers whip enough GOP base voters into a froth, the Republican Party will be stuck between a rock and a hard place: fail to fight and incite the base, or decide to fight and wind up giving mortal offense to a large swath of Hispanic voters in America.

    The GOP has been courting Hispanic voters, with varying degrees of success, for many years now; Hispanic voters are the fastest-growing electoral bloc in the country, and the GOP covets their support in no small part because their survival as a viable party depends on it. If Senate Republicans go after Sotomayor, they run a great risk of alienating an entire generation of Hispanic voters, which simply eviscerates GOP hopes for a recovery at the polls going forward. But if Senate Republicans don't fight the Sotomayor nomination, they run a great risk of further alienating and infuriating the leading voices of an already deranged base, an event that could lead to open revolution within the party and be just as damaging in the long run.

    For the moment, GOP strategy regarding the Sotomayor nomination appears to be an attempt to split the difference. Mr. Obama timed his nomination for when Congress was on vacation, so the TV news networks haven't been able to find many GOP congresspeople willing to go on camera to chew on his choice. But there is just enough angry noise over the nomination being broadcast to perhaps soothe the ruffled feathers of guys like Limbaugh and avoid an implosion. The Republicans will fight her, but not enough to win, and promise their base they will fight like crazed badgers if and when the next Supreme Court nomination comes along.

    Nothing is certain, however. Some enterprising young researcher at Fox News or the Federalist Society could dig up something from Sotomayor's past that proves mortally damaging to her nomination. The GOP base could continue to listen to their pet ideologues, wind up looking at any we'll-get-'em-next-time approach as yet another intolerable Republican sellout, and demand the kind of anti-Sotomayor action the party may be unable or unwilling to commit to. There could be something else entirely that comes up, something unexpected and crazy-making that throws the whole thing into a cocked hat.

    It's going to be a hot summer no matter what. Get ready, and enjoy the show.