MSNBC "The Ed Show" Interview with Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) Interviewer: Ed Schultz
Interview
MSNBC "The Ed Show" Interview with Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) Interviewer: Ed Schultz
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MR. SCHULTZ: Joining me now is Congresswoman Linda Sanchez, a member of the House Judiciary Committee.
Linda, what is your response to some of the chatter out there that this is an affirmative action hire, selection?
REP. SANCHEZ: You know, I think it's demeaning to her accomplishments and the fact that she has a substantial record, judicial record. She's been a judge for more than 10 years. She's authored hundreds of opinions. She has a very low rate of reversal, less than 1 percent. The vast majority of her decisions have been upheld. She has been a prosecutor. She has more experience as a nominee for the Supreme Court than Supreme Court justices have had for the past 70 years.
So how people can look at her and say, "Oh, she's simply an affirmative action hire" is beyond me, because she's eminently qualified. And I think it is really demeaning for people to grasp at straws to try to say that she's not qualified to serve on the Supreme Court.
MR. SCHULTZ: Well, Congresswoman, I think it has to be pointed out that it took the conservatives one day to play the race card. This is Tom Tancredo, your fellow colleague, on the conservative side from the Congress, on this program last night playing that card.
(Begin videotaped segment.)
FORMER REP. TOM TANCREDO (R-CO): I would continually bring up this quote of hers. I'd like her to explain that. It is incredible to me. There is no one else I can think of who could possibly have said the kind of things she said, if they were reported accurately, about --
BILL PRESS (radio talk show host): Hey, Ed --
MR. TANCREDO: -- the benefits of being a brown woman, as opposed to a white man, in interpreting the law. And nobody could look at that and say that that was not a racist, sexist statement that would disqualify anybody else.
MR. SCHULTZ: All right, Bill, why don't you respond to that?
MR. TANCREDO: But why her? Because, of course, what you just said -- she is an Hispanic woman.
MR. PRESS: Hey, Ed --
MR. TANCREDO: And, therefore, we can't say things like this.
(End videotaped segment.)
MR. SCHULTZ: What do you think of that, Congresswoman?
REP. SANCHEZ: I just think that conclusion that Mr. Tancredo jumps to is completely baseless. Number one, her quote, taken in context -- and I think you accurately are trying to put it into context -- with the richness in her background, her lifetime of experiences, which I would venture to guess are vastly different than those that currently serve on the court, I think, make her unique -- give her a unique perspective to be able to understand not just dispensing the letter of the law -- because, yes, serving as a judge is about dealing with prior precedent and prior case law, which she was bound to rule the way that she did in the New Haven case because of prior case law -- but it's also about dispensing justice.
That's fundamentally the role of the courts. It's to look at not just the letter of the law but the spirit of the law as well and interpret it in a way that makes a just outcome. And so I think that, given the adversity that she's encountered and her perseverance and her hard work ethic and her numerous accomplishments, both academic and as a member of the bench --
MR. SCHULTZ: No doubt.
REP. SANCHEZ: -- I think it makes her an excellent candidate for the Supreme Court. And for people to suggest that that richness somehow makes her racist, I don't understand it.
MR. SCHULTZ: Well, Congresswoman, I agree with you, but I also think that it's reached a new level. You have the former speaker of the House today Twittering that he thinks that she's a racist.
Now, my question tonight to you is, are Hispanics, elected officials around the country, going to sit back and have Sotomayor just fight these people off on her own? I mean, it would seem to me that this would draw a very strong response, to say the least, from Latinos in this country who have been elected by their peers.
REP. SANCHEZ: Not just from the Latino community, but, I mean, from her colleagues on the bench -- they've stood up to defend her record -- but certainly, I mean, women; I think the Hispanic community. I think anybody who understands the judicial nomination process and understands how qualified she is, they should all be rallying to her defense.
MR. SCHULTZ: No doubt.
REP. SANCHEZ: And my sincere hope is that they do. She is super-qualified, and I think just a phenomenal figure --
MR. SCHULTZ: And she's not a racist.
REP. SANCHEZ: -- and a great role model. Absolutely not.
MR. SCHULTZ: Yeah. Well, that's what's out there. It's unfortunate.
REP. SANCHEZ: It is.
MR. SCHULTZ: Congresswoman, we've got to run here. I appreciate your time tonight.
REP. SANCHEZ: Absolutely, Ed.
MR. SCHULTZ: Thank you for speaking up.
REP. SANCHEZ: Thank you.
END.
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