Now Sotomayer is the News
The nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to replace Souter on the Supreme Court has kicked off the next inning of contentious debate between the conservative and liberal political voices in the media and the Senate. Sotomayor has made statements that would have immediately disqualified almost any other candidate using the same type of racist characterizations.
She said that “a wise Latina (woman) might make better judicial decisions than a white man”. I hope she can explain this away during the confirmation hearings. I’m not happy to think that we might be adding a racist to the court. She makes me more than a little bit wary with references to empathy and that “personal experiences affect the facts that judges choose to see”.
I’m not so naive to think that judges at the municipal level do not sometimes make judgments influenced by local politics and personal prejudices. I would hope that when reaching the level of a Federal Appeals Court judge that “the law” would be the guide for decision making. Sotomayer made a decision in a firefighter case in Connecticut that seem on the surface to be a racially motivated decision. This case is coming before the Supreme Court shortly. We might get a greater insight as to her racial biases if in fact they are part of her judicial rulings.
The “Living” Constitution philosophy of judgment seems to be a dangerous extension of judicial powers. There needs to be sharp questioning on these subjects being raised by some who have a better understanding of the subject than I.
Senator Jeff Sessions will lead the minority questioning at the confirmation hearing.
It is a curious coincidence that Sessions was nominated for a Federal Judge position in 1986 and was rejected for supposedly making racially insensitive comments while serving as the U.S. Attorney in Mobile.
It is expected that Sessions will make every effort to keep the questions on point and fairly presented. Those who know him think that his treatment in 1986 was so unfair that he will make sure that Sotomayer is not treated with the same type of discourteous questioning.
Talking to a lawyer friend who is on the opposite side of the political spectrum from me, I received assurances that Sotomayer will be much more moderate than she is currently being depicted, We’ll see how that looks when Sessions starts the questioning.
I wish Obama would give us a week to relax once in a while. General Motors is next on the agenda. That looks like another Administration mess that we will suffer through and pay a big price to try to get them on track.
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The American judiciary, at all levels and certainly at the highest level, is charged with interpreting the law. That doesn’t mean spinning it to suit one’s vision of what society should be.
We have been living through an era of outrageous judicial
decisions.
I have personally seen it at the federal level in Philadelphia and I suspect it has happen elsewhere.
Our Senators have an obligation to vet this nominee to make sure she is not coming to the bench to “fix” the social ills of our country.