Obama's Supreme Court Nominee

Over the last few days since President Obama announced that he was nominating Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, I've seen and heard a lot of stories and opinions on her nomination in news stories, both print and on TV, as well as on the radio. Although I'm getting at this a few days late, I figured I might as well chime in and give my two cents.

While I have no doubt that she will be confirmed given the current power structure in Washington, I do not believe she will be a good Supreme Court Justice.

Some on the radio are calling her a racist. I don't think that's true, but her comment 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" is definitely bigoted, and is not taken out of context. As Newt Gingrich commented, "Imagine a judicial nominee said 'my experience as a white man makes me better than a Latina woman' ..." Not only would that person never even be considered for the Surpreme Court, but there would be a huge public outcry for them to resign their current bench in disgrace.

In addition, one statement I heard yesterday from several places which should give you pause is that this one comment alone from Sotomayor would get her removed from any jury pool for any trial in the country. Is that really the kind of individual we as a nation want to have a lifetime appointment on the highest court in the land?

I think an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal pretty much captured my feelings on this nominee as well as anywhere I've seen.

Expanding on that, when I see a video of her saying the court is "where policy is made", then see a quote saying one is better able to interpret the law based on ethnicity, then read about her fierce support for affirmative action through her work with La Raza, and then read about her pathetic and seemingly race-based handling of the Ricci v. New Haven case (which is currently being review by the Supreme Court and may be overturned), I just can't help but think that out of all the qualified and brilliant lawyers, judges, and law professors in this country, this is the best Obama can come up with? If he's looking to play racial/gender politics with his pick, fine. I'm sure there are many Hispanic women who are very qualified to serve on the Supreme Court but don't have what seems to be a racial chip on their shoulder.

On a final note, I have to say that I find it amusing when reading this morning that Obama stated, "What I hope is that we can avoid the political posturing and ideological brinksmanship that has bogged down this process, and Congress, in the past", seeing as how he did just that during the confirmation hearing of one Samuel Alito. Oh how short the memories last...