Politics and Culture

1. Sherrilyn A. Ifill is both wrong and right. Judge Sotomayer did say a racist thing, technically, if you define racist as the dictionary does:

rac·ism (rszm)
n.
1. The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.

She said:

Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences, a possibility I abhor less or discount less than my colleague Judge Cedarbaum, our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging. Justice [Sandra Day] O’Connor has often been cited as saying that a wise old man and wise old woman will reach the same conclusion in deciding cases…I am also not so sure that I agree with the statement. First, as Professor [Martha] Minnow has noted, there can never be a universal definition of wise. Second, I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life..

Here we have an allusion to actual and meaningful natural differences and the allegation that Latinas would not only make different choices, a problem in itself as judges are supposed to not take that stuff into consideration, but "better" ones.

(I personally don't think physiology affects wisdom: it's available to all sincere people. I don't know if Sotomayor would consider my mom, a Latina, wise, but if my mom were on the supreme court, she'd not only allow the death penalty, but offer to carry out the sentence herself.)

So, yes, what Sotomayor said fits the definition. On the other hand, I don't really think that Sotomayor is a racist- she's a liberal. There's a difference. Liberals say things that fit the criteria for racist speech, but they don't really believe it. What liberals try to do in this regard is achieve equality, which is their one sacred dogma. One way to straighten a see-saw is to lift the low side. The other way is to lower the high side. Sometimes liberals feel that the lower side has to "make up" it's low time by spending time as the higher half. It's the reason why Marxist-inclined race movements say that the oppressed can't be racists- the oppressed have no power (more here).

This is what Sotomayor was doing. Whereas O'Connor stopped at equal, Sotomayor wanted to make up a little for past slights by saying that Latinas are not only equal, but better.

Some conservatives like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are also being unfair to Sotomayor because immediately after that passage Sotomayor said:

“Let us not forget that wise men like Oliver Wendell Holmes and Justice Cardozo voted on cases which upheld both sex and race discrimination in our society. Until 1972, no Supreme Court case ever upheld the claim of a woman in a gender discrimination case. 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.”

Here, Sotomayor returns to the correct (my) position.

So, how should Republicans handle Sotomayor? I know what appeals to me and that is, calm, non-sensational, non-nitpicking, truth. How would this strategy sound like in a hearing:

Justice Sotomayor, what is your position on this? Do you agree with this decision? What's your general philosophy?

In other words, this is a teaching moment for Republicans. Contrast and illuminate.