Sen. Sessions looks at Judge Sotomayor and he thinks only “Puerto Rican” (or worse) because he incessantly brings up some GWB judicial nominee with a last name Estrada. As Rachel Maddow pointed out, Mr. Estrada was among many Bush II nominees rejected by the Senate. So, why the emphasis on Mr. Estrada? Why not any other right-wing, neo-con nominee who was rejected? Because prejudice boils under the surface of our the hallowed traditions of our democracy.

Sen. Sessions, please, please, attack her on her decisions, if you must. Question her application of the law in various decisions. Really, go nuts. But, don’t infect a basic Constitutional mechanism with prejudice. This land was founded as haven from intolerance and prejudice. A beacon to the world. Sen. Sessions, you have sullied the process and our national principles by your comments.

The bigger question is: why don’t you look at Judge Sotomayor and see an accomplished jurist? A person (not a woman and not a latina) who, through hard work and determination, sits before you seeking confirmation to the highest court in the land. I wish you could read her decisions without seeing her ethnic last name or knowing that she is a woman. I wish you could just take issue with her decisions. Her decisions speak louder than any sound bite on a lecture circuit and are the important matters at hand.

Chances are she will be confirmed. But the stain you have placed on this process will never come out.