It appears Al Hunt sees the Sotomayor hearings through the prism of liberal white guilt.

Hunt:

What endures, however, is the spectacle of middle-aged, white Republicans instructing the first Latin female nominee about the irrelevance of race, gender and life experiences for a judge. Even Graham, one of the more enlightened lawmakers, a strong immigration advocate and a thoroughly modern Republican, didn’t get it.

Actually, what endures is Sotomayor backing off her own strange statements.

“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.” Yes, how dare any white male ask her about that idiotic assertion. But they did. And Sotomayor was wise enough to retract it. Apparently, it's perfectly alright with Hunt for certain Hispanics and women to express racial and gender superiority.

Sotomayor disavowed her many past statements along these lines, explaining they were uttered to law students on college campuses and so, in effect, shouldn't count against her nomination. On college campuses, professors and invited speakers say such stupid things all the time.

Anyway, Sotomayor is certainly wiser than white male Al Hunt. She either lied her way past the controversy or has changed her mind and is now on her way to being confirmed to the Supreme Court.