Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court

By the way, Sergio Sotolongo is also my friend, and his story is just as inspiring as Sonia's in its own way.



Sonia was a role model for me at Princeton. The woman I watched on television yesterday is the fulfillment of the promising young woman I remember and tried to emulate. She'll be a great Supreme Court justice. Like many, I'll be interested to hear her responses to questions on the Ricci case. Beyond that, much of the criticism directed at her has already been debunked. For example:

1. Bloggers for Huffington Post and Volokh conspiracy agree that her statement that policy is made in the appeals courts is not an endorsement of judicial activism. Rather, it can easily be understood as an observation of fact: judges at her level are often ask to resolve disputes about the proper interpretation of the law. Their judgments become policy prescriptions.

2. Whether or not she benefited from affirmative action, her record of academic achievements should remove any doubts about her intellectual abilities.

3. Jeffrey Rosen, who contributed to much of the mean-spirited gossip about Sotomayor's temperament and intelligence with his anonymously-sourced, poorly-researched hit job in the New Republic earlier this month, has called for Sotomayor's confirmation.

4. Finally, for people who have been misled by the chatter about Sotomayor's quote,"I would hope that 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," read the whole speech. She also said,

I, like Professor Carter, believe that we should not be so myopic as to believe that others of different experiences or backgrounds are incapable of understanding the values and needs of people from a different group. Many are so capable. As Judge Cedarbaum pointed out to me, nine white men on the Supreme Court in the past have done so on many occasions and on many issues including Brown.

However, to understand takes time and effort, something that not all people are willing to give. For others, their experiences limit their ability to understand the experiences of others. Other simply do not care. Hence, one must accept the proposition that a difference there will be by the presence of women and people of color on the bench. Personal experiences affect the facts that judges choose to see.

More:
New York Law Review: Sotomayor is Pragmatic, Empathetic, Lawyers Say

New York Times: Sotomayor's Rulings are Exhaustive, But Often Narrow

Wall Street Journal: Record Shows Rulings Within Mainstream Liberalism

Media Matters: Fox's Kelly, ABC's Greenburg skew Sotomayor remark about "Latina," "white male" judges