I Was In Error About Sotomayor

It has been pointed out that the reasons I gave that Sotomayor was unqualified were wrong and that she is supposedly to be well qualified for the court.  True enough for the reasons I gave.  I sometimes get it wrong.  The statistic I used was technically correct mathematically, but was not an indicator of qualification.  I did  not check the source.  My bad and sloppy on my part. 

That said, I still believe she should not be confirmed because of here numerous racist statements stating her genitalia and DNA makes her wiser than a white male.  Judicial temperament should mean something

Can you imagine what the liberals would say if Alito or Roberts had said similar?

So there is(as promised) my mea culpa.  I will try to endeavor to double check things before I hurry and post things before i shove off for bed.

VW

Comments

[Rusty]

VW,
Thank you for making the correction. You are a man of your word.

But, (you knew there had to be a "but"), while I think she was wrong in what she said I don't think it undoes years and years of great work on the bench. That seems unfair.

And Alito made some interesting comments during his confirmation hearing that if they were said by a liberal you would be jumping all over. They speak directly to empathy. Here they are:

Because when a case comes before me involving, let's say, someone who is an immigrant -- and we get an awful lot of immigration cases and naturalization cases -- I can't help but think of my own ancestors, because it wasn't that long ago when they were in that position.

And so it's my job to apply the law. It's not my job to change the law or to bend the law to achieve any result.

But when I look at those cases, I have to say to myself, and I do say to myself, "You know, this could be your grandfather, this could be your grandmother. They were not citizens at one time, and they were people who came to this country."

When I have cases involving children, I can't help but think of my own children and think about my children being treated in the way that children may be treated in the case that's before me.

And that goes down the line. When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account. When I have a case involving someone who's been subjected to discrimination because of disability, I have to think of people who I've known and admire very greatly who've had disabilities, and I've watched them struggle to overcome the barriers that society puts up often just because it doesn't think of what it's doing -- the barriers that it puts up to them.

[Violence Worker]

Rusty, Alito and Sotomeyer said two different things on a similar subject.

We all bring our background into a new job. At my shop, the 6 of us bring all kinds of background and experience to the table. Our individual backgrounds often give us different perspectives to consider when confronted with a problem that doesn't have a quick fix. The Dominican Republic born, retired Chief Master Sergeant in our shop would never tell you or even think he could do better than the white guys or the black guy, simply because he was Hispanic and grew up very poor. He might know better sometimes because he's worked hard to get there and knows his job, but it isn't because of his sex and ethnicity. He's against the Sotomeyer nomination as well, BTW.

The difference between Alito and Sotomeyer's statements is this. Alito said his background and experience would help him make difficult decisions in certain situations. It would possibly help him understand certain issues perhaps. Sotomeyer said on several occasions her experience would allow her make better decisions than a white male. Do you see the difference?

VW

[Rusty]

I do see the difference. I think I said pretty clearly that I thought she was wrong when I wrote "I think she was wrong". I'm just pointing out that conservatives have been jumping up and down like a 4 year old on a hotel bed about Obama's "empathy" comment while they said nothing about Alito's comment saying essentially that he has empathy for immigrants. I agree with you and Alito, you're going to bring in your background when you make decisions. It's impossible not to. I just think conservatives are being hypocritical (again).