Mr. Obama has the right to fight for his appointee. But nobody is distorting anything.
"I am certain that she is the right choice," the president said in his
weekly radio and Internet address in which he scolded critics who he
said were trying to distort her record and past statements. Those
include her 2001 comment that a female Hispanic judge would often reach
a better decision than a white male judge.
He derided "some in Washington who are attempting to draw old battle lines
and playing the usual political games, pulling a few comments out of
context to paint a distorted picture of Judge Sotomayor's record."
Those comments weren't pulled "out of context." Rather, they speak for themselves.
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 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 not so sure Justice O'Connor is the
author of that line since Professor Resnik attributes that line to
Supreme Court Justice Coyle. 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 experiences would more often
than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived
that life.
Prior to the highlighted section she advises that "there can never be a universal definition of wise." Perhaps. But it would have to be a very broad definition to allow that highlighted quote to fit..
