Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
Norton
Social climber
the Wastelands
|
|
|
Topic Author's Original Post - May 28, 2009 - 10:56am PT
|
Relevant excerpts from the speech she gave in 2002.
The full speech can be read here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/us/politics/15judge.text.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
“…. Judge Cedarbaum nevertheless believes that judges must transcend their personal sympathies and prejudices and aspire to achieve a greater degree of fairness and integrity based on the reason of law. Although I agree with and attempt to work toward Judge Cedarbaum’s aspiration, I wonder whether achieving that goal is possible in all or even in most cases. And I wonder whether by ignoring our differences as women or men of color we do a disservice both to the law and society….
I accept the thesis of a law school classmate, Professor Steven Carter of Yale Law School, in his affirmative action book that in any group of human beings there is a diversity of opinion because there is both a diversity of experiences and of thought. ….
The aspiration to impartiality is just that — it’s an aspiration because it denies the fact that we are by our experiences making different choices than others.
…. The Minnesota Supreme Court has given an example of this. As reported by Judge Patricia Wald, formerly of the D.C. Circuit Court, three women on the Minnesota Court with two men dissenting agreed to grant a protective order against a father’s visitation rights when the father abused his child. The Judicature Journal has at least two excellent studies on how women on the courts of appeal and state supreme courts have tended to vote more often than their male counterpart to uphold women’s claims in sex discrimination cases and criminal defendants’ claims in search and seizure cases.
…. 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 (v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court ruling that ended segregation).
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.
…. Each day on the bench I learn something new about the judicial process and about being a professional Latina woman in a world that sometimes looks at me with suspicion. I am reminded each day that I render decisions that affect people concretely and that I owe them constant and complete vigilance in checking my assumptions, presumptions and perspectives and ensuring that to the extent that my limited abilities and capabilities permit me, that I reevaluate them and change as circumstances and cases before me requires. I can and do aspire to be greater than the sum total of my experiences but I accept my limitations. I willingly accept that we who judge must not deny the differences resulting from experience and heritage but attempt, as the Supreme Court suggests, continuously to judge when those opinions, sympathies and prejudices are appropriate.”
|
|
noshoesnoshirt
climber
dangling off a wind turbine in a town near you
|
|
|
May 28, 2009 - 11:25am PT
|
Because she believes giving a person a leg-up based on race is a good thing.
Same thing that got Clarence Thomas into law school.
The irony is enough to make one laugh/weep/puke.
|
|
scarcollector
climber
CO
|
|
|
May 28, 2009 - 12:04pm PT
|
This is a question of semantics.
Everyone is racist, sexist, classist, etc.
Why?
Because on the aggregate there are differences between different groups. Maybe cultural. Maybe genetic. Maybe just insignifigant residual attributes from our different origins.
With no other information, given the choice between a Thai chef and a Scottish chef cooking your meal: which would you choose?
"Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement."
— Alfred Adler
|
|
apogee
climber
|
|
|
May 28, 2009 - 12:11pm PT
|
Judge Sotomayor: How is she a "rascist"?
She's not.
This is nothing more than typical GOP-fear-smearing.
Nothing to see here, folks, move along...
|
|
scarcollector
climber
CO
|
|
|
May 28, 2009 - 12:11pm PT
|
...but if you support affirmative action or any other material discrimination then you're definately "racist" unless perhaps your definition of the word includes hatred. Mine doesn't.
|
|
bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
|
|
|
May 28, 2009 - 12:21pm PT
|
How is she a "racist"?
Simple, she is a member of an organization called 'The Race' (La Raza).
|
|
apogee
climber
|
|
|
May 28, 2009 - 12:31pm PT
|
Why is it that the questions of racism seem to come up most frequently around political/judicial figures that are something other than anglo? What are you afraid of, whitey?
|
|
atchafalaya
climber
Babylon
|
|
|
May 28, 2009 - 12:49pm PT
|
She is the new Harriett Myers.
|
|
dirtbag
climber
|
|
|
May 28, 2009 - 12:52pm PT
|
"She is the new Harriett Myers"
That's funny!
|
|
JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
|
|
|
May 28, 2009 - 01:17pm PT
|
I have suggested definitions that show both scarcollector and Norton are correct. I base this on Norton's title of this thread, and on scarcollector's definition of racism.
Definition: "racist" -- One who discriminates based on race or ethnicity.
Definition: "rascist" (rhymes with fascist) -- One who discriminates based on race or ethnicity from a motivation of animus.
By these definitions, Sotomayor is a racist (as are most all of us). She is not a rascist.
John
|
|
JuanDeFuca
Big Wall climber
Stoney Point
|
|
|
May 28, 2009 - 01:25pm PT
|
I have been an active member in the group MECHA.
You white boys will have to live with the fact that we will take back Aztlan.
Juan "Son of Migrant Farm Workers" De Fuca
|
|
Chaz
Trad climber
Boss Angeles
|
|
|
May 28, 2009 - 01:29pm PT
|
You probably should think about having an anchor baby or two, Juan.
|
|
Brian Hench
Trad climber
Laguna Beach, CA
|
|
|
May 28, 2009 - 01:40pm PT
|
She is not the new Harriet Meyers. Why? Harriet Meyers was rejected primarily because she lacked judicial experience. Sotomayor is highly experienced on the bench.
|
|
dirtbag
climber
|
|
|
May 28, 2009 - 01:40pm PT
|
What about presidential candidates who call people "Gooks"?
|
|
Chaz
Trad climber
Boss Angeles
|
|
|
May 28, 2009 - 01:44pm PT
|
He killed *gooks* too.
Is name calling worse?
|
|
bookworm
Social climber
Falls Church, VA
|
|
|
May 28, 2009 - 01:45pm PT
|
i don't know if she's a racist; however, she has said things that make the accusation reasonable until we hear a clarification:
"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."
so, a latina's life experiences make for "better" judgment than a white male's experiences? that smacks of racism; if you disagree, try this:
"I would hope that a wise white male with the richness of [his] experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a Latina woman who hasn't lived that life."
|
|
dirtbag
climber
|
|
|
May 28, 2009 - 01:46pm PT
|
Something tells me that context is everything to that quote.
And I really doubt that that is what was meant.
|
|
apogee
climber
|
|
|
May 28, 2009 - 01:52pm PT
|
I believe that that quote came from a commencement speech that Sotomayor did at a Berkeley college for a graduating class in some sort of latin-culture related discipline. Context, indeed, is everything, but that won't stop the GOP fear-smearers from using it in any destructive manner they can imagine.
|
|
scarcollector
climber
CO
|
|
|
May 28, 2009 - 01:59pm PT
|
"You white boys will have to live with the fact that we will take back Aztlan."
Please take back Texas too while you're at it.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!