"U.S. Supreme Court Nominee Will Bring A New Perspective To The Bench".
U.S. Supreme Court nominee will bring a new perspective to the bench
By Merlene Davis - Herald-Leader columnist
U.S. Supreme Court Justice nominee Sonia Sotomayor has a lot in common with Lexington attorney Josh Santana.
Both are of Puerto Rican descent, both lived in the Bronx, and both are attorneys.
"I grew up in an area not that far from where the Supreme Court nominee, Sotomayor, grew up," Santana said. "Those were interesting times. I'm older than she is. We called it the East Bronx then."
joshsantana
Santana's first reaction to the news of Sotomayor's nomination was a sense of pride for their shared culture.
"We have similar experiences, and I am proud of the fact that she really had reached for the stars and was about to grasp one," he said. "Just listening to her and looking at her, she reminds me of my sister Eunice."
They both show "strength of character, articulateness, and an obvious toughness comes through," Santana said.
The aces that Sotomayor, 54, is holding are her culture, her success despite disadvantages, and her gender, all of which comprise her life experiences. Those experiences were lauded by President Barack Obama.
Sotomayor's father, a factory worker, died when she was 9 years old. She, her brother, now a doctor, and her mother, a single parent and a nurse, lived in a housing project in the Bronx for a time. She went on to graduate summa cum laude from Princeton University and earned her law degree from Yale.
But critics are focusing more on a speech Sotomayor, a federal appeals court judge in New York, delivered in 2001 in which she discussed race and sex discrimination cases, and the judges who hear them.
In it, she said: "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."
That statement hasn't gone over very well with Newt Gingrich or radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh. They have called her racist.
In the speech she continued, saying: "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. Others 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."
Santana agrees.
"Life experiences matter," he said. "Life experience is not a coat you can take off and hang up."
Who we are and what we've been through affects all of us in all we do. Even impaneled jurors are asked to decide the facts inside the courtroom through the filter of what they know and have learned outside the courtroom.
Judges do the same thing, Santana said. An examination of early Supreme Court rulings in matters of racial and sexual discrimination when the jurists were all white men, shows a one-sided viewpoint "that frankly doesn't speak all that well for a system that limits (decisions) to individuals with a homogenous life experience," he said.
But eventually the court took the extra "time and effort" to understand, and laws were changed.
How much earlier could those decisions have come had there been diversity on the bench?
"You want a mix of people," Santana said. "The law is not often crystal clear. It should be interpreted. We cannot be limited to what existed in 1776, which included public flogging."
Santana said Sotomayor is sure to raise issues and questions during deliberations that could be unique to her perspective. So why call her a racist and make her seem like a renegade judge?
"It's fear of the unknown," Santana said. "There is always that fear for anyone who is first.
"We won't get beyond the fear of the unknown until we get to know the unknown," he said. "Everything I've seen about Sotomayor says she has followed the law. That fear is unfounded. I don't see her as a strict constructionist, but that is not what I want."
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, an Italian-American chosen by President George W. Bush in 2005, said during his confirmation hearings that he was equipped to address discrimination issues because of the experiences of his family.
"When I get a case about discrimination," Alito said back then, "I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account."
That sounds like what Sotomayer said. No one called Alito racist.
Santana said that empathy, shared by both jurists, will help them understand "the nuances and subtleties that discrimination cases have."
"If you are a judge, you are sworn to uphold the law," Santana said. "She's not going off and doing crazy things. I expect she will bring some dynamics to that mixture, which will enhance the overall product."
I hope so.
The Senate confirmation hearings are expected to begin in July. No one believes the Republicans will let Sotomayor have an easier time of it than the Democrats gave Chief Justice John Roberts, White House Counsel Harriet Miers, who withdrew, or Alito, the three Bush nominees. Turn about is fair play.
I'm looking forward to having a Latina sitting on the highest court of the land. Many Hispanics are, too. If their anticipation is anywhere near what African Americans tried to contain before Obama was elected, they too could experience the joy that can only be released through tears.
When and if Sotomayor is confirmed, there will be reason for all of us to have a good cry.
Reach Merlene Davis at (859) 2... or 1-800-9..., Ext. 3218, or mdavis1@herald-leader.com.
By Merlene Davis - Herald-Leader columnist
U.S. Supreme Court Justice nominee Sonia Sotomayor has a lot in common with Lexington attorney Josh Santana.
Both are of Puerto Rican descent, both lived in the Bronx, and both are attorneys.
"I grew up in an area not that far from where the Supreme Court nominee, Sotomayor, grew up," Santana said. "Those were interesting times. I'm older than she is. We called it the East Bronx then."
joshsantana
Santana's first reaction to the news of Sotomayor's nomination was a sense of pride for their shared culture.
"We have similar experiences, and I am proud of the fact that she really had reached for the stars and was about to grasp one," he said. "Just listening to her and looking at her, she reminds me of my sister Eunice."
They both show "strength of character, articulateness, and an obvious toughness comes through," Santana said.
The aces that Sotomayor, 54, is holding are her culture, her success despite disadvantages, and her gender, all of which comprise her life experiences. Those experiences were lauded by President Barack Obama.
Sotomayor's father, a factory worker, died when she was 9 years old. She, her brother, now a doctor, and her mother, a single parent and a nurse, lived in a housing project in the Bronx for a time. She went on to graduate summa cum laude from Princeton University and earned her law degree from Yale.
But critics are focusing more on a speech Sotomayor, a federal appeals court judge in New York, delivered in 2001 in which she discussed race and sex discrimination cases, and the judges who hear them.
In it, she said: "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."
That statement hasn't gone over very well with Newt Gingrich or radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh. They have called her racist.
In the speech she continued, saying: "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. Others 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."
Santana agrees.
"Life experiences matter," he said. "Life experience is not a coat you can take off and hang up."
Who we are and what we've been through affects all of us in all we do. Even impaneled jurors are asked to decide the facts inside the courtroom through the filter of what they know and have learned outside the courtroom.
Judges do the same thing, Santana said. An examination of early Supreme Court rulings in matters of racial and sexual discrimination when the jurists were all white men, shows a one-sided viewpoint "that frankly doesn't speak all that well for a system that limits (decisions) to individuals with a homogenous life experience," he said.
But eventually the court took the extra "time and effort" to understand, and laws were changed.
How much earlier could those decisions have come had there been diversity on the bench?
"You want a mix of people," Santana said. "The law is not often crystal clear. It should be interpreted. We cannot be limited to what existed in 1776, which included public flogging."
Santana said Sotomayor is sure to raise issues and questions during deliberations that could be unique to her perspective. So why call her a racist and make her seem like a renegade judge?
"It's fear of the unknown," Santana said. "There is always that fear for anyone who is first.
"We won't get beyond the fear of the unknown until we get to know the unknown," he said. "Everything I've seen about Sotomayor says she has followed the law. That fear is unfounded. I don't see her as a strict constructionist, but that is not what I want."
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, an Italian-American chosen by President George W. Bush in 2005, said during his confirmation hearings that he was equipped to address discrimination issues because of the experiences of his family.
"When I get a case about discrimination," Alito said back then, "I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account."
That sounds like what Sotomayer said. No one called Alito racist.
Santana said that empathy, shared by both jurists, will help them understand "the nuances and subtleties that discrimination cases have."
"If you are a judge, you are sworn to uphold the law," Santana said. "She's not going off and doing crazy things. I expect she will bring some dynamics to that mixture, which will enhance the overall product."
I hope so.
The Senate confirmation hearings are expected to begin in July. No one believes the Republicans will let Sotomayor have an easier time of it than the Democrats gave Chief Justice John Roberts, White House Counsel Harriet Miers, who withdrew, or Alito, the three Bush nominees. Turn about is fair play.
I'm looking forward to having a Latina sitting on the highest court of the land. Many Hispanics are, too. If their anticipation is anywhere near what African Americans tried to contain before Obama was elected, they too could experience the joy that can only be released through tears.
When and if Sotomayor is confirmed, there will be reason for all of us to have a good cry.
Reach Merlene Davis at (859) 2... or 1-800-9..., Ext. 3218, or mdavis1@herald-leader.com.
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