GOP near-unity on Sotomayor sends message

WASHINGTON, July 29 (UPI) -- U.S. Republicans have sent a message to President Barack Obama that even moderate Supreme Court candidates he nominates will be opposed, analysts say.

Only one Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Tuesday voted to confirm the nomination of the nation's first Hispanic high court nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, despite her mainstream legal credentials in a show of party solidarity, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"The Republicans were more nervous about giving Obama a big victory than in further eroding their diminished support among Hispanics," Donald Kettl, dean of the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy, told the newspaper. "The Sotomayor vote signals that (Obama) needs to be very, very careful about going any further left with the next nominee."

"The big question is what's going to happen in the future," added Brian Darling, director of Senate relations for the conservative Heritage Foundation. "Are Republicans going to band together and fight harder if it's perceived as a conservative seat being vacated" the next time

Graham, however, praised Obama for choosing a Latina to serve on the court, saying, "America has changed for the better with her selection."