Sotomayor vs. White Male Firefighters « Tikun Olam-תיקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place

Sotomayor vs. White Male Firefighters

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6 Responses to “Sotomayor vs. White Male Firefighters”

DICKERSON3870 says:

July 17, 2009 at 6:07 AM

GOP motto: White makes right!

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fiddler says:

July 17, 2009 at 7:01 AM

the city was largely minority

I get what you mean, but there sure must be a less oxymoronic way of saying it ;-)

The more important point (Glenn Greenwald made it over and over) is that the right wing’s contention of Sotomayor’s rulings being based on empathy for minorities is entirely bogus. Not only isn’t there a shred of proof for this, there’s also a certain Sam Alito on the record openly voicing empathy for his fellow Italian Americans. That was not remotely an obstacle to his confirmation, nor should it be.
And the assumption underlying the smears against Sotomayor, that a judge must be no more than a mindless echo chamber for the law as written is absolutely laughable on its face.

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ellen says:

July 17, 2009 at 7:57 AM

Great foto, thanks for posting it.

Sotomayor’s record shows her to be a conservative jurist in the mode of David Souter.
If there had been anything slightly liberal in her record you can bet the Republithugs would have hit on it.

But there isn’t, so all they could do is express their astonishment that a “wise Latina” would have the chutzpah to appear before them, and moreover, be entirely at her ease.

I am happy to have a wise Latina on the Supreme Ct, I would be happy to have a Supreme Court which looks like America, but I do not confuse diversity with liberalism.

There is no indication that Sotomayor will step out of the legalistic mainstream when it comes to civil liberties and death penalty cases. In fact there is plenty of evidence to the contrary.

Otoh, there certainly have been judges who surprised once they got on the bench. Hope she is one and hope it is a pleasant surprise.

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amir says:

July 17, 2009 at 9:51 AM

New Haven City is 63% white.

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Andy says:

July 17, 2009 at 10:41 AM

Echoing fiddler’s point, if anyone out there thinks they can find a Supreme Court nominee who is a ‘Mr. Spock’ that views the world through a lens of cold logic 100% of the time, I hate to break the news to you, folks, but there ain’t no such person.

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Walter Ballin says:

July 17, 2009 at 10:35 PM

Some years ago when I lived in San Francisco, I recall being in line at the post office when I heard a couple of off-duty white male firefighters condemning the idea of women being in their profession. They didn’t say anything about Blacks, Latinos, or Asians but I’m sure that they felt the same way. Today San Francisco has a female Fire Chief who is Joanne Hayes-White. Obviously there are some white males who don’t get it that they don’t own the country anymore.

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