Repeated Bias: Sotomayor Has Made ‘Wise Latina/Better Decisions’ Remark Several Times

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Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on June 6, 2009

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor

Sonia Sotomayor seems like an amiable, compassionate, intelligent, charming woman. I bet I’d have a terrific time chatting with her over a cup of coffee. I like her.

But I don’t want her on our Supreme Court. It has nothing to do with Sotomayor’s gender or her race. It’s her empathy, it’s the way her brain is wired. Even if she was a hard-core, non-minority conservative, I would not trust her judgment to separate her feelings in order to follow, and not reinvent, the interpretation of the law. And this is because she herself has cited her gender and race… often. Her words have betrayed her inability to be non-biased. I have wanted to want her, but I simply can’t.

The law must be blind. We keep hearing about Sotomayor’s “empathy.” From it’s use and her previous actions, words, and rulings, it is a sound guess that her “empathy” is code for “judicial activism,” the favoring of certain classes of litigants over others in the judicial decision-making process. And that causes me tremendous concern.

She’ll likely be approved—so be it. I still don’t want her approved for appointment. Citing her race and gender on several occasions as empowering her with special abilities to make better decisions than someone else who doesn’t share her experiences, gender, or race is not objective enough to serve on the most important court in the world. And, yes, no matter how you slice it, her comments were racist. She herself is likely not a racist, but her comments are.

Sotomayor’s controversial 2001 comment was not a stray, isolated “slip of the tongue” boo-boo as the White House has said, but now it’s been discovered to be one of several instances where she has said nearly the same thing in public. This is troubling.

In or out of context, her words have expressed the same message: she believes being a woman and a Latina gives her the ability to make better decisions than a white male. Not “different” or “unique” decisions, but “better.” Sonia, your intentions may be pure and this bias may have been acceptable on other judicial benches, but your comments demonstrate an unacceptable bias for a judge appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States of America.

You are free to express yourself and be true to yourself. But those traits reveal bias that will shadow your objectivity when reviewing Supreme Court cases and adhering to the principles outlined in the US Constitution. Empathy is transient and subjective; law cannot be.

From Fox News:

Writings Reveal Sotomayor’s Controversial ‘Wise Latina’ Remark Not Isolated

Sonia Sotomayor told the Senate on Thursday that the White House never questioned her about cases or issues she might have to decide as a Supreme Court justice, a disclosure gleaned from reams of documents that reveal she has spoken repeatedly about how her gender and Latina heritage affect her judging.

The federal appeals court judge divulged new details about her finances and provided three decades of writings, speeches and rulings that give both supporters and critics fresh fodder for the coming debate on her confirmation. They include more instances in which she said she hopes a “wise Latina” would reach a better decision than a man without that experience.

The comments in 2002 and 2003 echo a much-criticized remark she made in 2001 at the University of California-Berkeley law school that has prompted a furor among conservatives who say they suggest President Barack Obama’s first Supreme Court nominee brings a personal bias to her legal decisions.

Obama has said he is “sure she would have restated it.” In fact, she said it almost precisely the same way in speeches to the Princeton Club in 2002 and one at Seton Hall law school in 2003, according to copies she sent the Senate.

Sotomayor has told senators in private meetings this week that while her background shapes who she is, she believes judges should follow the law above all.

The documents also reveal that the White House first contacted Sotomayor about the nomination four days before Justice David Souter announced he would retire.

Sotomayor first got a call from White House counsel Greg Craig on April 27, then had near-daily contact with his office after Souter’s announcement May 1. She spoke to about a dozen White House aides during the secretive selection process, leading to a face-to-face interview with Obama on May 21.

The president took the Memorial Day weekend to mull his selection, then announced it May 26. Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic and the third woman to serve on the court.

The documents provide a fuller portrait of Sotomayor, 54, who was reared in the Bronx and educated in the Ivy League. She likes dining on pig intestines and reading legal thrillers. She lists luxury brands Fendi, Ferrari and Bulgari as past clients — but also once recused herself from a case involving the discount retailer B.J.’s Wholesalers because she was a member.

The files were delivered in five cartons to Capitol Hill in response to a Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire. They arrived as Sotomayor wrapped up a series of one-on-one meetings with more than two dozen senators.

“I get to sleep in my own bed tonight,” she quipped to reporters before disappearing into an elevator en route to an evening shuttle back to New York.

The White House and Senate Democrats said her quick response to the committee’s questionnaire should pave the way for prompt hearings.

“This historically fast completion of the exhaustive questions is no small feat that will hopefully lead to her swift consideration by the Senate,” Craig blogged on the White House Web site.

Republicans are resisting Democrats’ calls for a speedy set of hearings and summertime vote. They say it will take until September to slog through Sotomayor’s nearly 17 years worth of rulings and to scrutinize her approach as a judge.

The financial documents paint a portrait of a New Yorker in an expensive neighborhood who has to watch her budget. She has $1.16 million in assets, but $418,350 in debts, including her mortgage, credit card bills and a big dental bill. She listed her bank balance as $31,985. Previous financial disclosure reports put her annual income at about $200,000.

In listing her most significant cases as a trial lawyer, Sotomayor highlighted the successful prosecution of two men on child pornography charges in 1983. She said the case was the first child porn prosecution in New York after the Supreme Court upheld state law in 1982.

Describing her five years as a prosecutor, Sotomayor put importance on her case against a man dubbed the Tarzan Murderer because of his habit of climbing and leaping between buildings. He was convicted and sentenced to a minimum of 62 1/2 years in prison.

Sotomayor listed 32 cases in which her decisions were either reversed or affirmed with “significant criticism.” In several of those cases, higher courts did not take issue with her reasoning but ordered reviews because of subsequent rulings in other cases.

The Supreme Court directly reversed five appellate rulings Sotomayor wrote or participated in as a judge on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. One was a case in which the high court said Sotomayor was wrong in concluding that the Clean Water Act doesn’t allow cost to be considered when deciding what technology would best minimize environmental impacts.

Categories: Conservatism, Government, Law & Constitution, Race Issues, Social and Political Climate
Tags: America, bias, empathy, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, Latina, political, politics, racial bias, racist, SCOTUS, Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court

About the author

Vicki McClure Davidson

I'm a conservative frugalist. My priorities: Watchdogging the government, making sure our tax dollars are spent wisely, living within our budgets (at home and in Washington, DC), and adhering to our Constitution and the conservative principles upon which it was developed by our founding fathers. Also, loving God, my family, and my country. Be wise, be frugal. God bless America!

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