Tuesday, July 14, 2009

"Y'all don't know what it's like being male, middle class, and white..."

Wanted to provide a small rain to alleviate the current blogging drought by linking to an interesting article by Eugene Robinson regarding the Sonia Sotomayor confirmation and the fallacious notion that only minorities have "identities" whereas white guys don't. Basically, the point is that everyone approaches any legal issue with our own prejudices based on a unique set of life experiences, and each Justice must put forth an effort to overcome those biases and interpret law through the impartial eyes of the U.S. Constitution. It's a fair point. And while I remain somewhat skeptical of Sotomayor's now-infamous "wise Latina woman" statement, right now I'm willing to accept her explanation, especially since she's been answering most questions in a manner that largely reflects my own perspective. So far.

UPDATE: This has nothing to do with anything, but it's hilarious.

"Injustice is my middle name
You don't need to change
Your future's with us"
- Tokyo Police Club, Your English is Good

3 Comments:

Blogger Jeff said...

If you read the entirety of the Berkeley speech from which the "wise Latina" quote was culled, you'll note that she's pretty much saying exactly that. Though I think she'd argue that impartial interpretation of the Constitution is impossible, and that the best you can do is to have people with vastly different perspectives taking up those nine Court seats.

July 15, 2009 12:00 PM  
Blogger Mike said...

Yeah, that's sorta what I've been gathering from the confirmation hearings so far. Incidentally, does it bug the crap out of anyone else that people are accusing her of dodging questions when she says she would need the specifics of a particular case, even though that's EXACTLY what a good judge should be doing?

July 15, 2009 1:13 PM  
Blogger Jeff said...

Everyone expects her to have an ideology, and she doesn't. She just takes cases as they come, and while everyone in the legal field knows that, it bugs the hell out of the Senators because it makes her unpredictable from a political perspective.

July 16, 2009 10:27 AM  

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