June 5, 2009
Sotomayor repeated 'wise Latina' crack dozens of times
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs has egg on his face - again - this morning.
Gibbs, a frustrated stand up comedian whose misstatements of fact, and shear hackery are already legend among the press corps, told us with a straight face the other day that SCOTUS nominee Sonia Sotomayor "misspoke" when made the comment that a "wise Latina woman" could always reach a better judgment than a white male judge.
If true, then Sotomayor has a problem with foot in mouth disease because, according to a piece in Congressional Quarterly by Seth Stern she has used the same or similar language dozens of times over the years
Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor delivered multiple speeches between 1994 and 2003 in which she suggested "a wise Latina woman" or "wise woman" judge might "reach a better conclusion" than a male judge. Those speeches, released Thursday as part of Sotomayor's responses to the Senate Judiciary Committee's questionnaire, ... suggest her widely quoted 2001 speech in which she indicated a "wise Latina" judge might make a better decision was far from a single isolated instance.
A draft version of a October 2003 speech Sotomayor delivered at Seton Hall University stated, "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would, more often than not, reach a better conclusion." That is identical to her October 2001 remarks at the University of California, Berkeley that have become the subject of intense criticism by Republican senators.
First, it would take a lot more than this to derail her nomination. Secondly, I know it is a forlorn hope, but perhaps it will stiffen the spine of some Republican senators who are reluctant to criticize her for stuff like this. The fact that she has used it continously over the years in speeches and lectures would lead one to believe that she believes it.
Whether that makes a difference with some senators is moot. She will probably receive at least 10 and perhaps as many as 15 GOP votes for confirmation.
Hat Tip: Ed Lasky