The nomination of Sonia Sotomayor, widely described in media accounts as the first Hispanic nominee, drew more attention to the question of Cardozo's ethnicity.

"Commander in Chief" is a political fantasy, a feminist twist on "The West Wing," which this season pits a Hispanic Democratic nominee against a Republican challenger.

And while many Democratic senators opposed Mr. Estrada, they have voted to confirm 12 of President Bush's other Hispanic judicial nominees.

In the Clinton era, they denied confirmation votes to six Hispanic judicial nominees, and delayed others for years.

Some people are telling you to name a Hispanic as your first Supreme Court nominee.

But Republicans wonder how Democrats would react if Mr. Bush decided to fill his first Supreme Court opening with a black or Hispanic nominee.

Since then, Hispanic legal and elected officials have quickened the drumbeat urging Mr. Cuomo to select a Hispanic nominee.

While blacks now constitute the single biggest chunk of the primary electorate - about one-third - a hotly contested race could just as easily produce a Jewish, or Hispanic or female nominee.

Senate Republicans have also sought to use a fight over a Hispanic judicial nominee to undermine Democrats.

In the end, he nominated eight black, female and Hispanic nominees to Cabinet-level positions that had never been held by members of their groups.