Sonia Sotomayor vs. old white men
Sotomayor and Senate Republicans square off over ‘wise’ Latinas and prejudice
Sonia Sotomayor testifies before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.
(EPA/Corbis/Michael Reynolds)
Aging white Republicans attacked Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor for her alleged prejudices Tuesday, said Mike Madden in Salon, with Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.) essentially accusing her of hiding her “true, white-man-hating thoughts” from the Senate. His fellow GOP “old white guys” joined in the act, ignoring her 17 years of careful rulings to fixate on her “wise Latina” comment—as if “the background and heritage of old white guys” is somehow neutral.
Her “wise Latina” riff went one step further, suggesting that “white male judges were incapable of equaling the prudence of those wise Latinas,” said Jim Geraghty in National Review Online. But you’d never know that from the Sonia Sotomayor who spoke Tuesday. From Sotomayor’s conservative-sounding answers, you’d think the “controversial, outspoken judge” of her speeches was her “evil twin.”
It’s not Sotomayor’s fault that “a gaggle of white Republican men afraid of extinction” couldn’t trip her up, said Maureen Dowd in The New York Times. Obama may have picked the “wise Latina” to add “some spicy seasoning” to an overwhelmingly white, male Supreme Court, but her robot-like “iciness” before the Senate probably served her better.
All this talk of Latinas and “diversity” is misleading, said Roger Simon in Politico. Sotomayor “brings no diversity at all” to the court. Seven of the nine current justices went to Yale or Harvard law schools; Sotomayor is a Yalie. It’s “wonderful Obama chose a Latina for the job,” but a Latina without “an Ivy League degree” would have shown “real diversity.”
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15 Comments
Posted by Lisa, Wednesday, July 15, 2009, 2:17 pm So now the Supreme Court should be filled with Jenny from the block kind of guys and gals? I'll take my Supreme Court well schooled thankyouverymuch.
Posted by GD, Wednesday, July 15, 2009, 2:18 pm I caught the interviews by Sens. Graham R and Durbin D. Three points came thru loud and clear: 1 The wise latina quote has been taken quite out of context. 2 Both sides of the aisle wanted the nomination to be about social issues. 3 Sotomayor wanted it to be that she rules, and rules wisely, on the issues of law and in the context of the case, regardless of her personal beliefs. 2 3 made for quite a gap between the committee and her. Her answers often avoided the question, but she did demonstrate she is wellqualified.
Posted by GD, Wednesday, July 15, 2009, 2:20 pm I'll remember to avoid parentheses and ampersands in the future.
Posted by Gary, Wednesday, July 15, 2009, 4:07 pm I will remind Sonia and Maureen Dowd that it was white men alone who decided Brown v Bd of Ed, it was probably a white man or men that took a chance and admitted her to Yale, it was mainly white men who wrote and passed the Civil Rights Act which has made their ascent possible, and it has been the patronage of white men that enabled them to get where they are. If the judgement of white men is so badhow do Sonia and Dowd account for where they are today? I will take the Anglo part of world over the Latino part any day!
Posted by Tony, Wednesday, July 15, 2009, 6:24 pm Gary You are like a fish who has no conception of what water is. Just to choose one point: Can you imagine a scenario in which this generous patronage would have been unnecessary? You act as if the Civil Rights Act and Brown were so heroic, rather than needed moral corrections to an intolerable situation.
Posted by nem0.n00ne, Wednesday, July 15, 2009, 9:17 pm Better does not mean different ot diverse it means superior. Feelings of superiority based on race is bigotry no matter how you try to dress it up.
Posted by Erin, Wednesday, July 15, 2009, 10:37 pm Gary, honestly! I'm sure you're aware of the Warren court's famous reputation as a judicial activist court and the fact that Earl Warren himself was a great liberal judge whom conservatives despised. And I'm sure Sotomayor's summa cum laude AB from Princeton had nothing to do with her acceptance to Yale. You think white men alone were responsible for her tenure as a both a Federal District and Court of Appeals judge? Oh, no! Women and minorities! You should know that you sound just like another white man who is scared of the 21st century, sir.
Posted by Erin, Wednesday, July 15, 2009, 10:52 pm Nemo, I would encourage you to find the recent, excellent NYT interview with Justice Ginsberg wherein she talks about how her experience as a woman not even a Latina helped open the eyes of her fellow male judges. Ginsberg's richness of experiences have done nothing but help the court and allow them to come to better decisions. And are you really going to nitpick Sotomayor's offthecuff word choice when we just lived through 8 years of a president who was famous for making up words entirely? The comment was taken out of context. Period.
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