OK, I know it is not a surprise to say that the media is employing sexist and racist stereotypes in its portrayal of Sotomayor and that those stereotypes place her in an infamous catch-22– How dare she be smart and aggressive? Wait, she’s a lawyer and a judge.
But, if anyone is doing research or teaching about this topic, here is site that does an excellent job documenting and linking to a long list of examples in the US media, and connecting them to legal scholarship about racism and sexism.
Feminist Philosophers 
[…] In these terms, assertive women are bullies and Latinas are sloppy and not too bright.) H/T to this post. […]
There is some interesting research being done headed by Caroline Heldman from Occidental College and Meredith Conroy at UCSB on Sarah Palin’s representation in the media.
I myself was listening to PRI: they were interviewing a male somehow professionally related to Sotomayor, who insisted that she was NOT “bossy”, instead she’s a “very nurturing” person.
Kathleen Hall Jamieson has a CUNY lecture series talk on Sexism and the Presidential Campaign available here: http://www1.cuny.edu/forums/podcasts/?p=596