Democratic senators refuse Alberto Gonzales a rubber stamp:

"Judge Gonzales is the wrong man for this job," Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, declared, using the title Mr. Gonzales acquired as a member of the Texas Supreme Court. Mr. Gonzales' actions as White House counsel, Mr. Leahy continued, "have tarnished our country's moral leadership in the world and put American soldiers and American citizens at greater risk."..."Every Hispanic-American in the country is watching," said Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which voted, 10 to 8, along party lines last week to endorse Mr. Gonzales's nomination. Mr. Gonzales's rise from childhood poverty in Texas to Harvard Law School and the highest levels of government shows, Mr. Hatch said, that "in America there is no limit to how far they can go." But Senator Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, argued that confirmation should be based on more than heritage or innate ability. "I dearly wish we could vote for his compelling personal story," Mr. Leahy said, "not for the record before us." Democrats said that as White House counsel, Mr. Gonzales had helped devise policies that narrowed the definition of "torture" and led to the abuse of prisoners in Iraq and at the United States naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, tarnishing America's image abroad and making the country less secure... Opposition to Mr. Gonzales is so strong is some quarters that a handful of Democrats this afternoon even discussed trying to stall the nomination through a filibuster, a parliamentary move that would require 60 votes to overcome. The Republicans have 55 seats. But the Democratic leader, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, later said there would be no filibuster. Assuming that the nomination does come to a vote eventually, confirmation of Mr. Gonzales to succeed John Ashcroft at the Justice Department appears all but certain, given the Republicans' majority in the Senate. No Republicans have indicated any wavering in their support. Nor, by midafternoon, after more than five hours of debate, had any Democrat spoken in favor of the nominee...All indications pointed to a vote on Mr. Gonzales that would be far closer than the 85-to-13 margin by which the Senate confirmed Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state last week.

People are watching, Latino and not, American and not, to see who will take a strong stance against state sponsored-torture.