Here we go…Obama’s first supreme court nomination. Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the 2nd circuit court of appeals. The would-be first latino supreme court justice. A very intriguing personal story for sure, growing up in the projects going no to Princeton and Yale and clearly gaining the esteem of her colleagues in the profession and the notice of President Obama. But unfortunately it looks like she is a bigot. Yup an old fashioned racist. How do I know it? Well she pretty much made it clear with statements like, “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion (as a judge) than a white male who hasn't lived that life.” Lets contrast that with the views of O’Conner and Ginsburg who take the, “A wise woman will make the same decision as a wise man.” Not a better decision but the same decision because if you are wise then you will pass down opinions with wisdom that will be correct, well thought out, etc. regardless of your gender. It seems Judge Sotomayor doesn’t feel that way but rather that her life story allows her to be in fact better than people like…me. Shall we go further?
How about the case recently argued before the supreme court of the New Haven Firefighters. The department gave an exam for promotion and decided to throw out the results of the exam when not enough minority candidates qualified for promotion. A few white firefighters sued to have the exam kept saying that they had worked hard for their results and that affirmative action policies are no reason to throw out the results and penalize them. Right on guys. Furthermore…of all professions why would we ever have affirmative action with firefighters. I mean seriously no one’s life is put in danger if we give a leg-up to some young minority scientists or secretaries or stewardesses but firefighters? Don’t we want the best people in that job regardless of what color they are. If my house is burning down I don’t want someone who got extra points on his exam because of his race. I want whoever is the MOST likely to save my ass.
Back to Judge Sotomayor, she even ruled on one of my favorite cases from the last few years. The highschool student in Connecticut who was barred from running for class office after she called the superintendent a douche-bag on her blog. Of course, Sotomayor ruled with the school administration furthering the preposterous precedent that students’ first amendment rights are not fully protected. Absolute BS if you ask me. As a student with limited protection I’m going to go out on a limb here and say, on the record, that I think the 2nd circuit court of appeals may in fact be a bunch of douche-bags. Yup, full on douche-bags.
Of course that has never been a disqualifier for supreme court justices (look at scalia) so I’m pretty sure she’s gonna get confirmed which I think means we can expect a whole lot more appreciation on the bench for backwards race based policies. Oh wait you say the court doesn’t set policy? Not according to Judge Sotomayor who said that “the court of appeals is where policy is made.” Do you get a complimentary copy of the constitution when you become a justice? I hope so. Patrick OUT!!!
