As a Democrat, it has been entertaining to watch the disorganized Republicans' reactions to President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. We are approaching a filibuster-proof 60-seat Senate majority and an extremely qualified, competent nominee.
The right-wing crazies don't like her. Some claim she's a reverse racist and insinuate she will somehow institute massive increases in affirmative action from the bench. Conservative bastion Newt Gingrich called Sotomayor ""racist"" on Twitter.
Moderate Republicans, including those in the Senate who actually hold a vote on Sotomayor's confirmation, have remained fairly quiet on the nomination and promise to give Sotomayor fair confirmation hearings. Some cable TV talking heads argue that fear of alienating Hispanic voters by voting against a Hispanic nominee has kept most Senate Republicans waiting. But it is equally possible that senators see a qualified nominee and a respectable judge, not to mention a possible pro-life ally, in Sotomayor. The media's interest in ethnicity is outdone only by the über-conservatives.
After the announcement of Sotomayor's nomination, conservative chatter began about Sotomayor's ruling in a case involving Connecticut firefighters. Several Hispanic and Caucasian firefighters brought the suit forward based on the promotion of an African-American firefighter. Sotomayor and two other judges on the appellate court agreed jointly that a lower court had ruled correctly and within the bounds of the law. Sotomayor's joint ruling shot down the appeal brought, in part, by several Hispanic firefighters.
Addressing the intricate details of the case may have constituted judicial activism, an ideology conservatives only support when they are in power. Her joint ruling was an exercise in judicial restraint and appropriate to the bounds of an appellate court. The ruling sided with federal law that bars both intentional discrimination and indirect bias from seemingly neutral exams that disproportionately hurt women or minorities. Yet she also expressed sympathy for the white firefighters in the written opinion. In the far-right scramble to sink Sotomayor, this solitary ruling has been twisted as false evidence that she would be a racist justice.
Should race be such a focal point during a Supreme Court appointment? Ideally, and hopefully in the near future, no. But this time, how can it not be, particularly when the nominee mentions it herself?
A self-described ""Nuyorican,"" a New Yorker of Puerto Rican descent, she is proud of her history and heritage. Despite the news media's overkill discussion of Sotomayor's ethnicity, her background brings a viewpoint never before seated on the Supreme Court. There have only been two nonwhite members in the 220-year history of the Supreme Court. How can the heavily white, mostly male court be considered representative of the people? Perhaps it's just my liberal ideology, but a new perspective on national issues can only result in more proper, fair rulings.
Let's not forget that other diversity issue, the one not causing a ruckus on the right—Sotomayor's gender. If appointed, she would be the third woman ever on the Supreme Court and one of two women on a nine-person bench.
The obvious surface issues of gender and ethnicity do not encompass all the freshness of Sotomayor's unique background. She grew up in the projects in the Bronx. She studied and worked tirelessly, eventually graduating summa cum laude from Princeton and Yale. According to the White House, she has more judicial experience than anyone sitting on the Supreme Court at the time they were nominated. Sotomayor has a golden résumé. It's unfortunate how her personal accomplishments are being overshadowed in the media by focus on genetic factors decided before her birth.
It is high time for another woman to sit on the highest court in the land. It's well overdue for the 15 percent of Americans who are Hispanic to be represented on the bench. But it's much more pressing that we have an intelligent pragmatist join the Supreme Court and that we review her substantive credentials. The Supreme Court will be a better branch of government with Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The days of giving the presidency to election losers are over. Buenos días, America.
Jamie Stark is a sophomore majoring in journalism and political science. Please send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
