WASHINGTON — Republicans' unflinching opposition Tuesday to Judge Sonia Sotomayor drew a partisan line in the sand, signaling that any future Obama nominees to the Supreme Court are unlikely to win significant GOP support even if they have solid legal credentials and moderate records.
By a 13-6 vote, the Democrats and a lone Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent her nomination to the full Senate, where she is expected to easily win confirmation next week because of the significant Democratic majority.
The vote reinforced how the nomination process has become a test of party solidarity, with senators wary of voting to confirm a nominee of the president of the opposite party.
Three years ago, all of the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee opposed President Bush's choice of Samuel A. Alito Jr. for the high court, even though he, like Sotomayor, had a long and solid record as a judge.
Democrats portrayed Sotomayor as a cautious jurist who would closely follow the law. But most Republicans on the panel -- who will probably be followed by a large number of their colleagues in the Senate -- seemed ready to risk alienating Latino voters to make their point that she is more of a legal activist than her record as an appellate judge reveals.
They said that they had succeeded in setting a new, conservative standard for judging.
"This confirmation process has, in many ways, been a repudiation of activist legal thought," said Alabama's Sen. Jeff Sessions, the committee's ranking Republican. "It will now be harder to nominate activist judges."
Six of the seven Republicans on the panel -- all but South Carolina's Lindsey Graham -- voted against confirming the woman who would be the first Latino on the high court. They included Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Jon Kyl of Arizona, whose states have large Latino populations.
Some GOP senators initially seemed open to supporting Sotomayor, but in recent weeks, advocates of gun rights and opponents of abortion have pressed them to vote no on her.
The Republicans have also presented a solid front in opposing President Obama on issues including the economic stimulus package and overhauling the healthcare system.
"The Republicans were more nervous about giving Obama a big victory than in further eroding their diminished support among Hispanics," said Donald F. Kettl, dean of the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy. "The Sotomayor vote signals that [Obama] needs to be very, very careful about going any further left with the next nominee."
