WASHINGTON (AP) -- Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor picked up more GOP support Wednesday in her drive toward near-certain Senate confirmation this week as the first Hispanic justice, even as a growing chorus of Republicans called her unfit for the bench.
Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., became the seventh Republican to announce he'll vote for President Barack Obama's nominee, saying he disagrees with some of her rulings and statements but considers her a well-qualified jurist.
"There's been no significant finding against her, there's been no public uprising against her," said Bond, who is retiring. "I will support her, I'll be proud for her, the community she represents and the American dream she shows is possible."
Bond's comments came as Democrats were preparing to declare political victory on Sotomayor's confirmation, organizing the party's female senators, Hispanic leaders and civil rights groups, among others, to stress the historic nature of her confirmation. Latino leaders in particular warned that Republicans who opposed Sotomayor would feel political pain from their population, a large and fast-growing segment of the electorate.
"To say that you cannot vote for this qualified Latina to be on the United States Supreme Court sends a message to us as a community that we will not forget," said Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the Senate's lone Hispanic Democrat and his party's campaign committee chief. His comments, at a rally outside the Capitol with labor, civil rights and other liberal groups, were met with raucous cheers from a crowd waving signs bearing Sotomayor's picture and sporting "Sonia" buttons.
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