[StBernard] Supreme Court Nominee Sotomayor: You Read, You Decide

[Westley Annis]

Mr. Obama's words were:
We need somebody who's got the heart

Sooooooo, in that case, these guys should make admirable federal judges:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87bAMexzn24

JY







	-----------------------------------------------------
	Supreme Court Nominee Sotomayor:
	You Read, You Decide
	by Newt Gingrich
	
	Shortly after President Obama nominated her to a lifetime
appointment to the
	Supreme Court, I read Judge Sonia Sotomayor's now famous words:
	
	"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."
	
	My initial reaction was strong and direct - perhaps too strong and
too
	direct. The sentiment struck me as racist and I said so. Since then,
some
	who want to have an open and honest consideration of Judge
Sotomayor's
	fitness to serve on the nation's highest court have been critical of
my word
	choice.
	
	With these critics who want to have an honest conversation, I agree.
The
	word "racist" should not have been applied to Judge Sotomayor as a
person,
	even if her words themselves are unacceptable (a fact which both
President
	Obama and his Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs, have since admitted).
	
	So it is to her words - the ones quoted above and others - to which
we
	should turn, for they show that the issue here is not racial
identity
	politics. Sotomayor's words reveal a betrayal of a fundamental
principle of
	the American system - that everyone is equal before the law.
	
	The Central Question: Is American Justice No Longer Blindfolded?
	
	The fundamental issue at stake in the Sotomayor discussion or
nomination is
	not her background or her gender but an issue that has implications
far
	beyond this judge and this nomination: Is judicial impartiality no
longer a
	quality we can and should demand from our Supreme Court Justices?
	
	President Obama apparently thinks so. Other presidents, Republican
and
	Democrat, have considered race and gender in making judicial
appointments in
	the past. But none have explicitly advocated the notion that judges
should
	substitute their personal experiences for impartiality in deciding
cases.
	And certainly none have asserted that their ethnicity, race or
gender would
	make them a better judge over a judge from a different background.
	
	Here is how President Obama explained his criteria for appointing
judges
	earlier this year:
	
	"We need somebody who's got the heart, the empathy, to recognize
what it's
	like to be a young teenage mom, the empathy to understand what it's
like to
	be poor or African-American or gay or disabled or old - and that's
the
	criterion by which I'll be selecting my judges."