The New Supreme Court Justice of the US?

I can't help noticing that all news sites, except Los Angeles Times, mention the fact that Sonia Sotomayer is of Hispanic decent and that this is a first for the Supreme Court.

As if this was important. At least that is what I believe.

However, Sonia Sotomayor herself does not think so, at least as it can be interpreted from a speech she gave at Berkely 2002. She says:

"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male that hasn't lived that life"

Justice O'Connor, a woman supreme court justice, is often cited to have said that a wise old man and a wise old woman would come to the same conclusion in deciding cases, something Sotomayor apparently does not agree with.

Sotomayor, a liberal, believes that both gender and race have an effect on court decisions and on top of this thinks a judge makes policy in court rather than simply apply the Constitution, a difference between conservatives and liberals.

However, since race is important in elections, and that the Republicans lost 9% of their hispanic vote, it's probable that they will accept Obama's nomination.