Judge Sotomayor Flusters Sen. Cornyn On Equal Opportunity

While questioning Judge Sonia Sotomayor at her confirmation hearing today, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) asked whether she agreed with the assertion that she has "liberal instincts." Sotomayor answered, "If he was talking about the fact that I served on a particular board that promoted equal opportunity for people, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, then you could talk about that being a 'liberal instinct' in the sense that I promote equal opportunity in America and attempts to ensure that."  The implication, of course, is that conservatives don't do the same.  Seeming a bit flustered, Cornyn responded that "not only liberals endorse the idea of equal opportunity." Watch it:

But it's worth noting that Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the conservative who has led the Republican assault on Sotomayor, has indicated that he does not in fact believe in equal opportunity.  He's called the NAACP "communist-inspired" and "un-American"  and joked that he used to think the Ku Klux Klan "were okay" before he found out that some of them smoked marijuana. The Senate judiciary committee voted down his nomination for a federal judgeship in 1986, accusing him of "gross insensitivity" on racial issues. And, yesterday, Sessions implied that all Puerto Rican judges should vote the same way.