A Justice For All: From the hearings

[and-justice-for-all]

We're in Day 3 of Sonia Sotomayor's Senate confirmation hearings and the nominee has been doing a tremendous job. Today and yesterday she responded to some tough grilling from Republican senators and dispelled some of the over the top attacks based on her race and gender -- attacks over empathy, reverse discrimination and some of her past comments which have been taken out of context. Some Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee continue to imply that as a Latina woman Judge Sotomayor somehow can't be impartial. Of course, no such claims are lodged against white male nominees who are somehow presumed to be neutral and not to bring any sort of personal experience-based perspective to the bench.

Also, grasping at straws for some way to attack progressives throughout the hearings, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) has repeatedly and falsely attacked People For the American Way over "rumors" that we had engaged in smear tactics against one of the Republicans' anti-Sotomayor witnesses, Frank Ricci. The so-called rumors are nonsense -- misinformation spread throughout the right-wing media echo chamber. These attacks expose the Right's lack of credible arguments against Sotomayor's confirmation. Demonizing PFAW for our part in challenging right-wing distortions is a way to toss some red meat to their base.

Read what we really said here.
http://site.pfaw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=media_2009_07_pfaw_statement_on_frank_ricci_discrimination_cases

We expect that Judge Sotomayor will continue her stellar performance and continue to put distortions about her record to rest. And we hope that these hearings can provide a teachable moment -- and an honest discussion about the importance of our civil rights laws in protecting all Americans' access to fair and equal treatment under the law.

Please help us drive that conversation if you can with a donation to PFAW's ongoing work.

Make sure your name is on the Confirm Sotomayor petition if you have not yet signed.

And if you are on Facebook or Twitter, follow our pages for the rest of the hearings and beyond.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support and for standing up for the American Way.

-- Your Allies at People For the American Way

P.S. In his column yesterday, Eugene Robinson was extremely eloquent in addressing the absurd notion that "whiteness and maleness are not themselves facets of a distinct identity," but rather, they are "the natural order of things." You can read it here.