Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt?Romney,?speaks during a campaign stop in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Friday March 16, 2012. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt?Romney,?speaks during a campaign stop in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Friday March 16, 2012. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Friday, March 16, 2012. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt?Romney, center, hugs his wife Ann as he arrives to the airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Friday March 16, 2012. Puerto Rico's Governor Luis Fortuno, right, and his wife Luce Vela stand to their right and left. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, accompanied Puerto Rican Gov. Luis Fotuno, speaks after arriving in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Friday, March 16, 2012. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) ? Campaigning in Puerto Rico, Mitt Romney is refusing to back off criticism of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
The justice, nominated by President Barack Obama in 2009, is beloved by local Democrats and Republicans as the high court's first member of Puerto Rican descent.
"In looking at Justice Sotomayor, my view was her philosophy is quite different than my own and that's the reason why I would not support her as a justice for the Supreme Court," Romney said. "I would be happy to have a justice of Puerto Rican descent or a Puerto Rican individual on the Supreme Court, but they would have to share my philosophy, that comes first."
The issue puts Romney at odds with a majority of local voters and his most prominent Puerto Rican supporter, Gov. Luis Fortuno. It also underscores the challenges facing Republican candidates as they bring popular conservative rhetoric to an area packed with Hispanic voters ahead of Sunday's GOP president primary.
Beyond Sotomayor, Romney and his rival Rick Santorum have supported the conservative push to formalize English as the official language across the country. In Puerto Rico, an American territory that will vote on its political status, including statehood on Nov. 6, most residents speak Spanish as their primary language.
Santorum made headlines earlier in the week after suggesting that Congress would require Puerto Rico to adopt English as the official language as part of its quest for statehood, a dominant political issue here.
"I have no doubt that one of the requirements that will be put forth to Congress is a requirement that English would be universal here on the island," Santorum told a local newspaper. "That doesn't mean that people can't speak Spanish in their homes, or in their business, or on the street, but that everyone would have a proficiency in English."
In a January presidential debate, Romney suggested that English should be the official language for all states.
"I think our position on English in our schools and in our nation is the same, which I believe English should be the official language of the United States, as it is," Romney said in the debate.
But he appeared to back off that position Friday in regards to Puerto Rico's statehood, which he said should have no preconditions regarding language.
"English has been an official language of Puerto Rico for 100 years," he told local reporters. "Selecting the words of your governor, Spanish is the language of Puerto Rico's heritage; English is the language of opportunity. I would hope that young people would learn both languages, but particularly English."
Puerto Rico is set to hold its GOP presidential primary on Sunday. While there are 20 delegates at stake, Republicans want to make inroads with Hispanic voters, a growing voting bloc across the country, but are complicating their efforts with such talk.
Romney was also forced to defend a New York Times report suggesting that Romney profited from his former company's role in expanding the Chinese government surveillance programs.
"I'm not familiar with that report and so I really can't respond to it," Romney said, adding that he left his former company, Bain Capital, in 1999. "Any investments that I made are managed by a blind trust. I don't make investments in Bain or anywhere else."
Romney is set to spend roughly 24 hours in Puerto Rico before heading to Illinois, which hosts a GOP primary Tuesday.
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