Washington Post reporter Robert Barnes:

Obama also said he would try to bridge the gap between Republicans and Democrats, and I think Republicans will argue this choice is not designed to appeal to them. That is part of the reason the President pointed out this morning that Sotomayor was initially appointed to the bench by President George H.W. Bush, although that was part of a deal with New York's Democratic senators.

New York's senators at the time were Democrat Patrick Moynihan and Republican Al D'Amato.