‘Is Sonia Sotomayor’s Bronx Tale The Only One Worth Telling?’
by Aaron Goldstein (5/29/09)
I came across an article by Stuart Taylor in The National Journal (via Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online) titled, “Identity Politics and Sotomayor.” (1) This article gave me tremendous pause for thought.
Taylor’s article was posted scarcely 72 hours before President Obama appointed Sonia Sotomayor of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals to replace David Souter on the United States Supreme Court. He took Sotomayor to task for a remark she made during a speech at the University of California – Berkeley School of Law in 2002.
( http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/us/politics/15judge.text.html?pagewanted=3&_r=1 ):I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion (as a judge) than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.
Taylor believes her remark warrants more scrutiny. As he correctly points out, imagine what would have happened if it had been found out that Samuel Alito uttered such a thought about a Latina woman. He would have been castigated and rightly so. Isn’t it only fair that Sotomayor be similarly taken to task? Just because Sotomayor is a Latina female does not mean she should not be accountable for her public statements. Surely her life of such rich experiences can withstand some criticism.
I have no doubt that Sonia Sotomayor has had a life of rich experiences. Sotomayor was born and raised in the South Bronx. My father was also born and raised in the South Bronx. Does Sotomayor believe my father’s life is less rich than hers because he was raised a Jew? If not then why does she deem my father’s Bronx Tale to be less worthy than hers? Sotomayor’s father (who died when she was only eight) was a tool and die worker. My paternal grandfather installed sheet metal ceilings. Isn’t it possible that Sotomayor and my father have some of these rich experiences in common? Who is Sotomayor to say my father hasn’t lived a rich life?
To be sure there were differences as there always are. After the death of her father, Sotomayor was raised by her mother who also worked as a nurse. My paternal grandmother stayed at home. While Sotomayor grew up with her mother and a younger brother my father shared an apartment on Longfellow Avenue with his parents, seven siblings (five sisters and two brothers) and a grandmother. Those were tight quarters indeed. Does Sotomayor honestly think Latina women such as she has a monopoly with these sorts of experiences?
If one thinks about it, Sotomayor’s remarks are a disservice to Latina women. Sotomayor is of Puerto Rican heritage but grew up in New York. She is a self-described “Newyorkican” (a.k.a. “Nuyorican.”) But surely a middle aged Puerto Rican woman living in New York who spent her formative years in San Juan is going to have a different tale to tell. Surely a Puerto Rican woman who matriculated in the Ivy League will have different experiences than a Puerto Rican woman who has just obtained her G.E.D. Surely a Puerto Rican woman who has children will have a different narrative than a Puerto Rican woman who doesn’t have hungry mouths to feed.
And what about Latina women who are not of Puerto Rican heritage? Women from Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Ecuador are every bit a part of the Latina experience. While they might share some common experiences does Sotomayor think there are no cultural differences amongst Latin American women? Does Sotomayor see as Shakira the twin sister of Jennifer Lopez? If she does then she cannot the tree of individuality from the dense forest of group think.
It is possible Sotomayor has had experiences that most white males have not had be they good or bad. But how do these experiences make Sotomayor a better judge? What does it say about Sotomayor that she dismisses the experiences of white males out of hand? Isn’t she judging white males both by the color of our skin and by our Y chromosomes rather than by the content of our characters? If a white male and a Latina female should be on opposite sides of a case before the Supreme Court is Sotomayor’s mind been made up before hearing oral arguments? To paraphrase George Orwell, are some people more equal before the law than others? Some firefighters in New Haven, Connecticut are probably inclined to answer that question in the affirmative.
In that same 2002 speech Sotomayor said:
Personal experiences affect the facts that judges choose to see. My hope is that I will take the good from my experiences and extrapolate them further into areas with which I am unfamiliar. I simply do not know exactly what that difference will be in my judging. But I accept there will be some based on my gender and my Latina heritage.
Aren’t judges supposed to consider all the facts? Now judges might give some facts more weight than others and that is within their discretion. But for a judge to publicly state there are facts she chooses to see would indicate there are facts that she chooses not to see. In Sotomayor’s case, one must ask if she chooses not to see facts which come into conflict with her gender perspective and what she terms “my Latina heritage.” If that is the case one must then ask is the law unworthy of her consideration? Or does the law simply take a back seat to her personal experiences?
In seeking to replace Justice Souter, President Obama said he wanted a Supreme Court justice who possessed empathy. Yet he chose someone who possesses anything but at least where it concerns white males. How can Sonia Sotomayor claim to have empathy when she thinks her Bronx Tale is the only one worth telling?
Aaron Goldstein
1) http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/openingargument.php
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