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White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs reported on Friday that Supreme Court Justice Nominee Sonia Sotomayor has acknowledged a poor word choice in comments singled out by critics. An excerpt of a 2001 lecture given by Sotomayor at UC Berkeley has been widely reported fueling allegations by conservatives that the would-be first Latina to serve in the highest court in the land is “racist.” In the sentence in question, Sotomayor, in response to a quote by Sandra Day O’Connor 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.” President Obama, in an NBC interview said of Sotomayor’s words, “I’m sure she would have restated it.” The statement was enough for conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh and Republican Newt Gingrich to publicly lambast the nominee as “racist.” Sotomayor’s decision against a “reverse discrimination” case brought by white firefighters in Connecticut is has added fodder to the accusations. Congressman Tom Tancredo took the attacks a step further by implying Sotomayor was a racist because of her membership in the National Council of La Raza, calling the civil rights organization a “Latino KKK without the hoods or the nooses.” Regardless of the tone and fervor of the attacks on Sotomayor recent polls show her nomination to be viewed favorably by a margin of two to one.

GUEST: Fabiola Torres, an Ethnic Studies instructor at Glendale Community College