Gingrich calls Sotomayor a racist

WASHINGTON, May 27 (UPI) -- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said President Barack Obama's U.S. Supreme Court pick is a racist and should withdraw her name from consideration.

The Georgia Republican made his comment a say after Obama announced he was nominating appellate court judge Sonia Sotomayor to the nation's highest court, ABC News reported Wednesday.

Gingrich joined fellow conservatives such as Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh, calling Sotomayor a "reverse racist."

The accusations came over comments Sotomayor made during a 2001 lecture at the University of California Berkeley.

Referring to former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's saying that "a wise old man and wise old woman will reach the same conclusion in deciding cases," Sotomayor said, "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

In a post on Twitter, Gingrich shot back: "Imagine a judicial nominee said 'my experience as a white man makes me better than a Latina woman'" and "new racism is no better than old racism."