Clearly it needs a greater ethnic diversity as well. Eight whites out of nine jurists, in a country that is trending away from lily-whiteness, that's not especially healthy, in my opinion. The Court should in fact reflect the values AND the racial makeup of our country. Without a doubt, the values come first in the pecking order, but background counts too.
With my disclaimers now out of the way, I would like to complain about Sonia Sotomayor's well-publicized unfortunate "wise Latina" comments. (Sotomayor is President Obama's pick to replace Justice David Souter, who has chosen NOT to die on the bench. Good for him.)
Wait, one more caveat! I wish for a speedy, uneventful confirmation process for Sotomayor. It is offensive to me that no Latinos/Latinas have served on SCOTUS yet. That is a serious shortcoming in our justice system. Let's get her on the court ASAP, stat-mmediately. Is yesterday possible?
But I am particularly bothered by her repeated assertion that she hopes 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." Saying that kind of thing once is excusable; but she wove that bit, sometimes word for word, into other speeches as well. (Yes, I just linked to CNN and... Fox News. It was painful for me too. I apologize. Get over it.)
Anyway... as a white male, I find her line of thinking to be condescending, patronizing and prejudiced. I don't think I need to explain why.
And yet, she has a point. The Court and the courts, they need more Latina voices and Latino ears. Desperately. But her ancestry doesn't make her a better jurist. Her life experience might provide her with insight a white man doesn't have, but let's get real: Gustav O'Leary is perfectly capable of having a history that enwisens him too! ("Enwisens?" Yup. "Gustav O'Leary?" Not a real guy, I hope.)
Sotomayor is presumed to be a semi-automatic liberal voice for a long time, which brings me great relief. Thank goodness a Democrat sits in the Oval Office, for this very reason. I wince to imagine another young conservative on the Court, ruling for big business and smacking down the little guy then retiring to the back room to smoke his strict-constructionist cigars.
John Roberts was qualified when mini-Bush nominated him. Now, for sure, Roberts is an unimaginative creep with whom I couldn't disagree more frequently. He probably lied in his confirmation hearing when he said he couldn't recall belonging to the ultra-far-right-wing Federalist Society. But he was qualified; so is Sotomayor. And the President can select whoever he pleases. So let's get on with it, shall we?
And so, I will be interested to see how the Republicans proceed. If they drag it out, delaying Sotomayor's confirmation more than usual, I'll post about how Obama may well have ensnared them in a trap. Which is totally unnecessary -- conservative white males have shown themselves to be plenty self-destructive. Almost as if they haven't learned a blessed thing from their rich life experiences.
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