Sotomayor: ‘A wise Latina,’ or a racist?

A comment in a speech Judge Sonia Sotomayor made eight years ago has ignited a debate over the extent to which judges are influenced by their life experiences.

You’re not dreaming, said The New York Times in an editorial. The first Hispanic nominee to the United States Supreme Court really “is being called racist.” The supposed basis of the charge against Judge Sonia Sotomayor, whom President Obama has nominated to replace the retiring Justice David Souter, is a comment she made in a speech eight years ago. “I would hope,” said Sotomayor, “that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” To angry voices on the Right, these 32 words are clear evidence of the “reverse racism” (Rush Limbaugh) lurking within the heart of a “Latina woman racist” (Newt Gingrich). Sotomayor would probably take that comment back if she could, said Leonard Pitts in The Miami Herald. But let’s not forget that of the 112 people to sit on the Supreme Court, “108 have been white men,” many of whom concluded there was nothing at all wrong with slavery, segregation, and the noxious Jim Crow laws. Sotomayor’s confirmation will be another welcome step toward a Supreme Court that “looks like America.”

If Sotomayor had merely said diversity was a good thing, said Steve Chapman in the Chicago Tribune, she’d have nothing to explain. But the full text of her “wise Latina” comments reveals a bolder—and more troubling—argument. Not only did Sotomayor say that women and minorities make better judges than white males, she was openly skeptical of judges who try to put aside their personal biases and rule impartially. “The aspiration to impartiality is just that—it’s an aspiration,” she said, dismissively.

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