Don't judge a Sotomayor by its cover
George E Curry/NNPA Columnist
Issue date: 6/14/09 Section: Politics
For President Dwight D. Eisenhower, it was Earl Warren. In Richard M. Nixon's case, it was Harry Blackmun and Lewis Powell. And for George H.W. Bush, it was David Souter. In those instances, justices appointed to the Supreme Court voted contrary to the way those appointing them had expected. Could Judge Sonia Sotomayor join that list?
At this point, there is no way for us to know. I began to have second thoughts about this nomination when I realized that the same president who appointed Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court also appointed Sotomayor to the federal bench. Bill Clinton elevated her from a federal district judge to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals but that does not change the fact that the elder Bush selected her first.
Most civil rights leaders immediately jumped on the Sotomayor bandwagon, largely because President Obama said she will make an excellent Supreme Court justice. But that's not good enough.
We do ourselves a disservice by accepting someone - especially an appointment as critical as this one - simply because the first African-American president picked her or that, if confirmed, she will become the first Latina to serve on the Supreme Court.
Of course her life story is inspirational. Her parents moved from Puerto Rico to New York during World War II. Sotomayor's father died when she was 9 years old and her mother, a nurse, reared Sotomayor and her brother in a South Bronx housing project. She graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University and distinguished herself at Yale Law School, where she was editor of the Yale Law Journal.
The emphasis on Sotomayor's background is an eerie reminder of how Clarence Thomas' nomination to the Supreme Court was orchestrated. There were endless stories about his humble upbringing in Pinpoint, Ga. Those handling his nomination conveniently neglected to point out that at the age of 7, Thomas moved in with his grandfather, a businessman in Savannah, assuring him of a life more comfortable than most Blacks in the city. The Yale graduate's upbringing didn't cause him to have empathy for the plight of African Americans.
At this point, there is no way for us to know. I began to have second thoughts about this nomination when I realized that the same president who appointed Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court also appointed Sotomayor to the federal bench. Bill Clinton elevated her from a federal district judge to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals but that does not change the fact that the elder Bush selected her first.
Most civil rights leaders immediately jumped on the Sotomayor bandwagon, largely because President Obama said she will make an excellent Supreme Court justice. But that's not good enough.
We do ourselves a disservice by accepting someone - especially an appointment as critical as this one - simply because the first African-American president picked her or that, if confirmed, she will become the first Latina to serve on the Supreme Court.
Of course her life story is inspirational. Her parents moved from Puerto Rico to New York during World War II. Sotomayor's father died when she was 9 years old and her mother, a nurse, reared Sotomayor and her brother in a South Bronx housing project. She graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University and distinguished herself at Yale Law School, where she was editor of the Yale Law Journal.
The emphasis on Sotomayor's background is an eerie reminder of how Clarence Thomas' nomination to the Supreme Court was orchestrated. There were endless stories about his humble upbringing in Pinpoint, Ga. Those handling his nomination conveniently neglected to point out that at the age of 7, Thomas moved in with his grandfather, a businessman in Savannah, assuring him of a life more comfortable than most Blacks in the city. The Yale graduate's upbringing didn't cause him to have empathy for the plight of African Americans.
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