Jessica

Vozel

Read Jessica's bio and previous columns here

June 1, 2009

Sotomayor’s Is Not the Patriarchal Perspective; No Wonder Conservatives are Upset

With the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, President Obama restored a bit of balance not along party lines (Sotomayor will, if confirmed, replace Justice Souter, who leaned liberal) but in terms of ethnic and gender diversity on the Supreme Court.

Sotomayor will be the second Hispanic to serve, and only the third woman. The public vetting started long before Obama’s decision to nominate Sotomayor was made official, with criticisms leveled at her weight (liberals wished for a thinner nominee, to ensure longevity on the court) and, more reasonably, her rulings as a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

But the quote that is most often repeated and analyzed, especially by conservatives, is one Sotomayor made not from the bench but during a topical lecture at Berkeley about Latinos/Latinas and leadership.

She said, speaking about race and gender on the bench, “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.” The rallying cry, heralded by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich, has been that this statement is “racist” and that Sotomayor will be guided by emotion rather than her unambiguous duty to uphold the Constitution (this second charge, I believe, would be leveled regardless, merely because Sotomayor is a woman, and women are assumed to be easily swayed by emotion).  

The thing is that the Constitution is ambiguous, or we wouldn’t need the Supreme Court in the first place. There is, as we’re all well aware 40-some tumultuous years after Roe v. Wade, the possibility for multiple interpretations of our country’s founding document. For too long, however, the Court that interprets the Constitution did not represent the country in all of its growing diversity. In terms of gender and ethnicity, it represented – and still largely represents – quite accurately the founders who penned the Constitution, but our country is an entirely different country than it was when aging white men were assumed to speak for her. 

For a country that prides itself on being a melting pot of cultures, we sure do prefer homogeneity in our government. At least we used to. Things are changing, and dissent against that change is inevitable. But when Sotomayor points out that Latina women have life experiences that enrich their leadership capabilities, I don’t see racism or sexism, or a statement for which Sotomayor should apologize (and she has, calling it a poor choice of words). I see a fundamental truth that makes people – especially recalcitrant conservatives – uncomfortable because it calls into question the assumption that the only view that means anything in terms of law-making and Constitutional interpretation is that of patriarchal, father-knows-best, white males.

Sometimes fathers don’t know best, especially when it comes to decisions that affect the bodily autonomy of women. And sure, it can be argued that knowing what’s best is not the point – the point is to interpret the Constitution in its most literal sense – but we all know that in that enigmatic document, politics and bias are brought in to fill in the gaps that the founding fathers couldn’t anticipate. 

For too long, the gaps have been filled by one type of person. Sotomayor is an excellent choice not only because she is strikingly credentialed and qualified, but also because she possesses the very richness of experience of which she spoke at Berkeley.

© 2009 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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