Excellent editorial from the Rutland Herald: That Wise Latina

[cali]

Published: July 14, 2009


Hearings on the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court began Monday with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee playing out a drama far broader than the simple question of whether Sotomayor should be confirmed.
It appears virtually certain that she will be confirmed because Republican skeptics who have had weeks to pore over hundreds of rulings and a decades-long career have uncovered nothing to tarnish her reputation as a judge of competence and restraint. They have had to pin their opposition on one line in a speech eight years ago when she suggested that perhaps a “wise Latina” might bring greater richness of experience to the bench than a white man.

Republicans are also homing in on Sotomayor’s opinion in a case decided by the federal appeals court involving promotions for New Haven, Conn., firefighters. Sotomayor joined the majority on the appeals court in support of the fire department’s decision to throw out the results of a promotion exam because the department decided that racially disparate results meant the exam was flawed. The Supreme Court last month overturned the appeals court ruling, reversing the opinion that Sotomayor had signed.

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To speak with pride about one’s origins is not un-American. Do Southerners take offense every time Leahy refers to the Yankee values of his Vermont heritage? Need Vermonters take offense every time a Texan boasts about the greatness of Texas? Black people, Latinos, Italians, Irish, Jews — all have grounds for pride in their heritage; all have lessons from their culture to bring to the court.
There is a history in this country of racist freak-outs whenever African-Americans or other minorities take on a tone that is viewed as too “uppity.” It is one means the majority has used to discredit minorities.

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It is also telling that the Republicans have decided to demonize the idea of “empathy.” President Obama has said that empathy is a quality he values in his judicial nominees. The Republicans wonder if empathy is a code word for favoritism for those on the outs.

But what is empathy? It is the quality of having eyes open to the human reality. That doesn’t mean seeing things that are not there. It means seeing the things that are.
The new court will address many crucial questions, and as columnist E.J. Dionne has written in The Washington Post, Republicans are seeking to define the activist right now dominating the Supreme Court as the mainstream. It is seeking to do so by characterizing Sotomayor as radically liberal.

There is nothing in the record to support their claims. Instead, the Senate is moving toward confirmation of an able and hard-working judge who is likely to bring the richness of her Latina heritage to a broad understanding of her judicial role.

read the whole piece at:

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20090714/OPINION01/907139974/1038/OPINION01

[cali]

1. kick because this is such a spot on editiorial- and it doesn't mince words

[cali]

2. one more kick.