Posted by Jonathan Adler:
Greenwald v. Rosen
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_05_03-2009_05_09.shtml#1241535069
Glenn Greenwald [1]responds to Jeffrey Rosen's article on Judge Sonia
Sotomayor.
My perception of Sotomayor is almost the exact opposite of the
picture painted by Rosen. I had a generally low opinion of the
intellect of most judges -- it's one of the things I disliked most
about the practice of law -- but I found her to be extremely
perceptive, smart, shrewd and intellectually insightful. The image
that has been instantaneously created of her as some sort of
doltish mediocrity, based on nothing but Rosen's water-cooler
chatter, is, at least to me, totally unrecognizable. Of the
countless federal judges with whom I had substantive interaction
over more than ten years of litigation, I would place her in the
top tier when it comes to intellect. My impressions are very much
in line with the author of [2]this assessment of Sotomayor, who had
much more extensive interaction with her and -- unlike Rosen's
chatterers -- has the courage to attach his name to his statements.
. . .
. . . Rosen's gossip has, in many places, already solidified as
conventional wisdom about Sotomayor: if Obama selects her, it will
mean that he has subordinated merit and intellect to gender and
ethnic diversity.
Sotomayor's decades of achievement in the face of overwhelming
obstacles just gets dismissed with a few slothful, totally
irresponsible smears from Rosen and his invisible friends. But
that's how "journalism" so often works -- people are allowed to
remain hidden while their views and assertions are uncritically
amplified in the loudest venues and bestowed with an authoritative
veneer that they absolutely do not merit.
References
1. http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/05/05/tnr/
2. http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2009/05/the_case_for_so.html
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