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There’s been much thrashing about by the Republican Right in regards to Judge Sotomayor’s supposedly reverse-racist comments in 2001. Let’s look at those comments for a moment..

 

"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,"

I’m sorry. I don’t get it. She compared someone with experience in a matter, with someone without experience in that same matter. Is it racist now to say that you have experience in something you are supposed to be adjudicating? Remembering of course, that the detractors fail to mention that she was specifically referencing race and gender discrimination rulings before the courts..

Perhaps she meant this statement in the same tone that John Yoo, Bush-Era White House lawyer used when speaking about Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas in October of 2007.

"This is a black man with a much greater range of personal experience than most of the upper-class liberals who take potshots at him."

 But that aside, let’s look at Sotomayor’s comments in context.

 

Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences, a possibility I abhor less or discount less than my colleague Judge Cedarbaum, our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging. Justice O’Connor has often been cited as saying that a wise old man and wise old woman will reach the same conclusion in deciding cases. I am not so sure Justice O’Connor is the author of that line since Professor Resnik attributes that line to Supreme Court Justice Coyle. I am also not so sure that I agree with the statement. First, as Professor Martha Minnow has noted, there can never be a universal definition of wise. Second, 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.

Let us not forget that wise men like Oliver Wendell Holmes and Justice Cardozo voted on cases which upheld both sex and race discrimination in our society. Until 1972, no Supreme Court case ever upheld the claim of a woman in a gender discrimination case. I, like Professor Carter, believe that we should not be so myopic as to believe that others of different experiences or backgrounds are incapable of understanding the values and needs of people from a different group. Many are so capable. As Judge Cedarbaum pointed out to me, nine white men on the Supreme Court in the past have done so on many occasions and on many issues including Brown.

However, to understand takes time and effort, something that not all people are willing to give. For others, their experiences limit their ability to understand the experiences of others. Other simply do not care. Hence, one must accept the proposition that a difference there will be by the presence of women and people of color on the bench. 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.

Have you wanted to see the infamous DOCUMENTS relating to Bush everyone keeps talking about? Click on the picture thumbnails to see them in detail

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One of the great civilizations of the world, the egyptian civilization took a funny turn aboout halfway through. It changed from a predominately black leadership to a predominately white leadership, with the actual population base staying by far mostly black throughout. it’s history makes me wonder if we are ar the cusp of te same thing here in America. The current state of our nation is poor. Any one who denies that lives rather seriously in denial. Is there a chance that America is ready and willing to enter it’s second age? a series of “new” dynasties? let’s hope so, because the “old” dynasty is well and done.

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I had no intention of calling things till the results were all in but…. The projections for PA are in, and Barack looks like he has it. That has to be a hell of a hurt for McCain.

10:15 CST.
It’s Done Barack Obama has won. My son has a different, better future,a different and real hope and reality. I’m satisfied. My children will live in the real America.

Keeping with her pledge for Open Government, and full Disclosure, Sarah Palin has apparently balked at her pledge to release he medical records. This type of extremely obvois stonewalling only serves to make us wonder ever the more just what it is she is hiding. Even John McCain, whose health is rather seriously always on the edge of the edge came forth with is records ion SOME sort of manner, while Sarah apparently has something that she cannot afford to let be known. Whether that being the rumor that her latest child is actually her daughter’s or that rumor that she had an abortion at 17, it is, I’m sure, ultimately something that would evaporate her appeal to the conservative base of the party.

Speaking with some Obama campaign field operators yesterday I realized that there was a absolutely simple election day polling-place strategy that had been completely overlooked. T-Shirts. That’s right, plain white, black, blue, red, green, grey, ANY t-shirt that simply doesn’t have anything whatsoever political on it. We all know that as much as it’s been on te news, as much as it’s been in the mail, as much as it’s been taled about, there are still going to be voters who are going to show up at their polling places with politically-themed shirts on. If the courtesy crews who will be stationed at a lot of the polling places simply had a few extra t-shirts on hand, they could give these people something they could put on over their garb while they vote, return it when they’re done, and not be forced to leave the line. Some attempt is being made here to implement this, but wherever you are, if you have any extra t-shirts in larger sizes, please drop them off at a polling place near you to keep anyone from being unfortunately disenfranchised.

The following is the text as prepared for delivery of Barack Obama’s speech in Canton, Ohio, as provided by the Obama campaign.

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