Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees that Sonia Sotomayor has been confirmed to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Congratulations Justice Sotomayor. Your Maximum Leader wouldn’t have nominated or voted for you; had he had a say in the matter. But elections have consequences… Your Maximum Leader hopes that you have a fine career on the highest bench in the land. (He isn’t holding his breath in hopes that you will magically turn out to be a closet conservative on the bench… But he does hope that you’ll see things his way from time to time…)

There is one thing that bugs your Maximum Leader about this confirmation… Is Sonia Sotomayor really the first Hispanic to be named to the Court? What about Benjamin Cardozo? Doesn’t he count? Wasn’t he of Spanish extraction? Hummm… Quick google shows an archived Volokh peice addressing this very issue. Apparently directly of Spanish or Portuguese ancestry (not via Central or South America) is not traditionally within the bounds of “hispanic.”

Your Maximum Leader, being a contrarian - as well as plain difficult from time to time, will think of Justice Sotomayor as the first latina justice. Of course, he will (depending on where she winds up on the court) more likely to think of her as “another one of the one’s your Maximum Leader doesn’t agree with very often.”

Carry on.