Tuesday - May 26, 2009

Tears Of Joy?

I recently saw an old episode of “West Wing,” where Edward James Olmos, playing a fictional Puerto Rican federal judge, was nominated to become the first Latino on the U.S. Supreme Court. I cried, thinking how remote this possibility seemed, yet how close.

Now that Judge Sonia Sotomayor has been nominated by President Barack Obama to the Court, that episode finally rings true. When I heard the news, I wept, for the long-overdue acknowledgement that Latinos matter.
...
The search for a justice with “empathy” is no less coded than is the traditional search for “judicial temperament” and a person who will “judge, not legislate.” All nominees have the requisite merit badges, as does Judge Sotomayor. And to make their way to such a short list, all have the combination of personal and professional lives that warrant their consideration.

What Sonia Sotomayor will have, as few other candidates, is the additional weight of historical expectations and the hopes of Latinos.

In today’s culture, Latinos are marginalized and demonized and feared. In Judge Sotomayor’s New York, roving gangs of thugs go “beaner hunting,” looking to harm undocumented Mexicans. Such racial hatred knows no nuance, as one such mob killed a permanent resident Ecuadorian, thinking him to be Mexican.

Cecilia Lopez, a student who is the first person from her family to go to college, sees something of herself in the first Hispanic woman to be nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“To me, as a student that comes from a low-income background, I think she’s a true example of the fact that when you’re wanting to achieve something, it’s truly possible, regardless of your background,” said Lopez, a 20-year-old senior at the University of Texas.

On Tuesday, President Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor, a woman of Puerto Rican descent, to the U.S. Supreme Court. If confirmed, Sotomayor will be the first Hispanic person and only the third woman to serve on the nation’s highest court.

In the wake of the nomination, Hispanics celebrated Sotomayor as a symbol of success and also as a reflection of the changing demographics of the country. In a sense, she is the Hispanic community’s answer to Obama’s narrative—a sign that, as Lopez said, anything is possible in America if a person works hard enough, no matter their race or economic situation.

Are we running out of “firsts” yet? Will we ever? Because I’d like to actually get past all this Identity Politics stuff in my lifetime, if such a thing will ever be possible. Sure, OK, fine. Let’s have a big happy Viva La Raza moment. And let’s not have any sour grapes about who put the first black person on the Supremes, or who first had a black person as Sec Def or Sec State, or who put the first woman on the Supremes, or any of that. Ancient history.

Then when all the hoopla is over, can we take a look at this woman’s qualifications? In the long run, I think that’s more important.

Sotomayor is touted by supporters as a justice with bipartisan favor and historic appeal.

She currently serves as a judge on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The liberal-leaning justice was named a district judge by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 and was elevated to her current seat by President Clinton.

Supporters say her appointment history, along with what they describe as her moderate-liberal views, will give her some bipartisan backing in the Senate.

Sotomayor presided over about 450 cases while on the district court. Prior to her judicial appointments, Sotomayor was a partner at a private law firm and spent time as an assistant district attorney prosecuting violent crimes.

Robyn Kar, who clerked for Sotomayor from 1998 to 1999, described her as a “warm, extraordinarily kind and caring person.”

It’s going to take a couple of days before any serious details emerge. Is she a judicial activist? Probably. Does she have a racial/gender chip on her shoulder the size of Cleveland? Probably. Think she’s a not-quite-in-the-closet Socialist? Who knows? And it’s my prediction that the GOP doesn’t fight her very hard at all. So get used to it now, because she’s a done deal.

(all articles sourced from cnn.com)

Posted by Drew458     on 05/26/2009 at 03:26 PM   
Filed Under: • Government •  
• Comments (4) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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