Posted by Jonathan Adler:
Judge Sotomayor's "Unscripted" Moments:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_05_24-2009_05_30.shtml#1243569680
Today's Washington Post [1]reports:
conservatives have seized upon Sotomayor's unscripted moments to
make the case that she is outside the mainstream. The two most
often quoted are a statement she made about how appellate judges
make policy and her observation about how being a Latina affects
her role as a judge: "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with
the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a
better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."
[emphasis added]
The initial comment that "policy is made" in the appellate courts was
clearly an "unscripted," off-the-cuff remark, and one that [2]I think
was overblown. The [3]other one, however, comes from the published
version of a prepared speech. So it was hardly "unscripted" and, in
all likelihood, it was not unedited either. I suppose it's possible
that the [4]text of the speech published in the Berkeley Law Raza Law
Review was the raw transcript, but I highly doubt it. Much more
likely, Judge Sotomayor had ample opportunity to review the text of
her speech prior to publication, making corrections and clarifications
where necessary. Thus, in this case, there is every reason to believe
that Judge Sotomayor's words were precisely what she meant to say --
and not quite an "unscripted" moment.
References
1.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/27/AR2009052703713.html?hpid=topnews
2. http://volokh.com/posts/1241381005.shtml
3. http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_05_10-2009_05_16.shtml#1242392150
4.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/us/politics/15judge.text.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
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