Sotomayor Confirmation Quote of the Day
Truthdig's Ellen Goodman on the Sotomayor confirmation hearings:
The would-be first Latina justice faced a committee with only two women members in order to get confirmed by a Senate with only 17 women for a seat on a court with only one woman. And yet Sotomayor had to prove that she wasn’t biased: "Men and women [are] equally capable of being wise and fair judges."
2:37 pm
yeah there is no oath of impartiality in the senate. There is such an oath for judgeships. Maybe she's right in that that specific organization is not capable of distinguishing biases (what with such a skewed populace). The thing that no one mentions is that one of the defendents in he firemens cse was a latino dude who was due to be promoted.
5:53 pm
I don't get that quote. Are the men referenced inherently biased simply because they're in the majority? They didn't vote themselves into their positions.
11:04 pm
@mdesus - you do realize, however, that the Supreme Court overturned the decision not because of the law, but because of empathy for the white guy? Historically, if an employer discovered that a test favored one group over another, they were required to use a different rubric in order to hire (because the test itself favored one group over another). Now, employers are required to show no favoritism, but they just might because the test they use if flawed. They're damned if they do and damned if they don't. Sotomayor's ruling followed the letter of the law. The Supreme Court saw what seemed to be an unfair practice (through empathy for the white guy) and overturned the letter of the law.
@Yeah, right
Did we all question these men about their lack of bias? No. The point is not that the men in the Senate are bad. The point is that our society is biased, and the question - in this context - is inane and inherently unfair.
9:39 pm
wow you seem really hot amellifera. Want to make out?