"White House: Sotomayor says she chose word poorly" - well, not exactly...

Submitted by Matt on Fri, 2009-05-29 20:59

Story here. Excerpt:

'WASHINGTON – The White House says Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor acknowledges she made a poor word choice in a 2001 speech in which she said that a Latina judge would often reach a better conclusion than a white male judge who hasn't lived the same life.

That's according to presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs. He says he has not talked directly to Sotomayor about it but has spoken to people who have.'

So she is saying she made a "poor choice of words". At least, she is said to have said to have said something like that. That is, someone is saying he heard from someone else that she said words to that effect, or in some way acknowledged it.

"Poor choice of words". I wonder what "choice of words" she would choose today to express the sentiment, whatever it was, since her first choice of words was, apparently, "poor" -- or so we are told by someone told by someone else who said she said something like that.

Well, in any case what she says is not nearly as important as what she does, though what she says does let people know a bit how she thinks and looks at the world, and thus to some degree, gives us some idea of what kind of Supreme Court judge she would make.

But whether or not you like what she has has actually *done* while being a judge in lesser courts up until now is up to you.

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Comments

I'm not saying she didn't mess up... because she did by not being clear enough, but I suggest everyone read more of that speech before you conclude that she's a sexist bigot. My conclusion is that she is not.

Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences, a possibility I abhor less or discount less than my colleague Judge Cedarbaum, our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging. Justice O'Connor has often been cited as saying that a wise old man and wise old woman will reach the same conclusion in deciding cases. I am not so sure Justice O'Connor is the author of that line since Professor Resnik attributes that line to Supreme Court Justice Coyle. I am also not so sure that I agree with the statement. First, as Professor Martha Minnow has noted, there can never be a universal definition of wise. Second, I would hope 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.

Let us not forget that wise men like Oliver Wendell Holmes and Justice Cardozo voted on cases which upheld both sex and race discrimination in our society. Until 1972, no Supreme Court case ever upheld the claim of a woman in a gender discrimination case. I, like Professor Carter, believe that we should not be so myopic as to believe that others of different experiences or backgrounds are incapable of understanding the values and needs of people from a different group. Many are so capable. As Judge Cedarbaum pointed out to me, nine white men on the Supreme Court in the past have done so on many occasions and on many issues including Brown.

However, to understand takes time and effort, something that not all people are willing to give. For others, their experiences limit their ability to understand the experiences of others. Other simply do not care. Hence, one must accept the proposition that a difference there will be by the presence of women and people of color on the bench. Personal experiences affect the facts that judges choose to see. My hope is that I will take the good from my experiences and extrapolate them further into areas with which I am unfamiliar. I simply do not know exactly what that difference will be in my judging. But I accept there will be some based on my gender and my Latina heritage.

I've posted my opinion on this in another Satomayor thread below... so I won't repeat... but this gives folks a little more context regarding this particular issue.

Dave K
A Radical Moderate

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Submitted by Dave K on Sat, 2009-05-30 01:26

Her comments are in a category with the comments Don Imus made about the black woman's basketball team. I'm not excusing Don Imus. I'm asking why anyone would even try to excuse her. There is no excuse.

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Submitted by MR on Sat, 2009-05-30 18:56

"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male "

THIS is RACISM. No way around it.

Lets play the old game.
Have a white male say the same thing and compare it to a latina.

You'd be busted immediately.

By definition, she is making a RACIST comment by suggesting that her race and experience provide "better" conclusions.

oregon dad

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Submitted by oregon dad on Mon, 2009-06-01 06:28