Posted by Jonathan Adler:
Would a "Wise Latina" Judge Reach "Better" Results than a White Male?
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_05_10-2009_05_16.shtml#1242392150
More comments by Judge Sonia Sotomayor have surfaced that are sure to
complicate her confirmation should President Obama nominate her to the
Supreme Court. The New York Times [1]reports:
In 2001, Sonia Sotomayor, an appeals court judge, gave a speech
declaring that the ethnicity and sex of a judge �may and will make
a difference in our judging.�
In her speech, Judge Sotomayor questioned the famous notion � often
invoked by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her retired Supreme
Court colleague, Sandra Day O�Connor � that a wise old man and a
wise old woman would reach the same conclusion when deciding cases.
�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,� said Judge
Sotomayor, who is now considered to be near the top of President
Obama�s list of potential Supreme Court nominees. . . .
Judge Sotomayor has given several speeches about the importance of
diversity. But her 2001 remarks at Berkeley, which were published
by the Berkeley La Raza Law Journal, went further, asserting that
judges� identities will affect legal outcomes.
�Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural
differences,� she said, for jurists who are women and nonwhite,
�our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in
our judging.� . . .
In making her argument, Judge Sotomayor sounded many cautionary
notes. She said there was no uniform perspective that all women or
members of a minority group have, and emphasized that she was not
talking about any individual case. . .
Still, Judge Sotomayor questioned whether achieving impartiality
�is possible in all, or even, in most, cases.� She added, �And I
wonder whether by ignoring our differences as women or men of color
we do a disservice both to the law and society.�
She also approvingly quoted several law professors who said that
�to judge is an exercise of power� and that �there is no objective
stance but only a series of perspectives.�
�Personal experiences affect the facts that judges choose to see,�
she said.
References
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/us/15judge.html
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