When President Obama announced Sonia Sotomayor as his pick for the Supreme Court, pundits warned Republicans of a trap -- attacking the first Hispanic nominee for the court could backfire, they said. That didn't stop former presidential candidate Tom Tancredo from going on cable news to decry Sotomayor's involvement with the National Council of La Raza, which he called a racist organization. Sotomayor herself was called a racist by Rush Limbaugh and then Newt Gingrich, who later withdrew his statement.

NationalJournal.com's Lucas Grindley spoke with La Raza's president, Janet Murguia, about whether these voices have harmed the Republican Party's standing among Hispanics, a growing part of the electorate.

"I think we've demonstrated a new level of engagement -- civic engagement and political engagement -- in this 21st century, and that's something that ought to be noted before people start spouting off falsehoods, like Tom Tancredo," she warned.

Murguia said critics like Tancredo are vestiges of a split in the GOP after the immigration debate, which she said has "paralyzed" Republicans' response to Sotomayor.

Read the interview with Murguia.