Im really not so sure. I've seen plenty of support for "affirmative action", just not based on race. Most people are more than ok with giving those in need an edge, given their situation, but many are against promoting a rich black person over a poor white one.

And sure, race can serve as a proxy, the black population in the United States is impoverished compared to the mean, but in the same way that it's not acceptable to take race as proxy when it comes to crime, it's not acceptable to do it when it comes to livelihood, in my opinion.

Sotomayor revealed in oral argument for this very case that she does not understand the difference between "de facto" and "de jure". There's plenty of other things to dislike her for beyond one liners in interviews.

Yeah. That was really weird. I don't know what to make of it, since it's hard to believe that she actually doesn't know the difference between the terms.

I just finished reading her dissent in this case, and I actually think she understands the legal difference, but because of her policy preferences (in this case, racism is actually okay but only for college admissions) she just forgot for a while.