Posted on 06/05/2009 2:04:14 AM PDT by FTJM
Sotomayor Repeatedly Referenced 'Wise Woman' in Speeches
By Seth Stern | June 4, 2009 7:32 PM
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, (to see Sotomayor's responses to the Senate Judiciary Committee click here and here) 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 and prompted conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh to label her "racist."
In addition, Sotomayor delivered a series of earlier speeches in which she said "a wise woman" would reach a better decision. She delivered the first of those speeches in Puerto Rico in 1994 and then before the Women's Bar Association of the State of New York in April 1999.
The summary descriptions of speeches Sotomayor provided indicated she delivered remarks similar to the 1994 speech on three other occasions in 1999 and 2000 during two addresses at Yale and one at the City University of New York School of Law.
Her repeated use of the phrases "wise Latina woman" and "wise woman" would appear to undermine the Obama administration's assertions that the statement was simply a poor choice of words. After details of the 1994 speech circulated before the questionnaire's release, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, emerged from his private meeting with Sotomayor and expressed new concerns about the nominee's "identity politics."
what sort of person call themselves wise?
A fool is wise in his own eyes
Does anyone in Congress have the balls to block this nomination?
Balls or not, we don’t have the votes.
Hasta la Vista Soto Mayor!!!!!!!!!!!!
I;m sure Obama has a long list of bigotted minority leftists to replace this one though.
We got both kinds; racist AND sexist!
I know of one perhaps not so wise Latina woman judge who’s had her decisions overturned at a rate of 60%, which is very high.
So much for her wisdom.
More like a dumb broad.
......and isn’t Latina woman: redundant? “Latina” means a female of Latin American descent. “Latino” means a male of Latin American descent.
> Balls or not, we don’t have the votes.
I believe there is a Senate rule that will not allow a nominee to be voted out of committee without at least one minority vote.
So now all she has to do is claim multiple bad choices of words. No problem.
I heard on Hewitt that she claims she just meant that a woman with her experiences would make a wiser judge than a man. Oh, that makes it OK, I guess, that she’s just a sexist. And she did slip that word ‘Latina’ in there, too, but she apparently didn’t mean anything by it.
What an obnoxious, egotistical weasel.
And then Newt said she wasn’t a racist, but she merely made a (now several) racist comment. Can someone tell me how I could publicly make a let’s say black racist comment but not be instantly and permanently labeled a racist?
People who's pictures belong on a package of potato chips.
The Republicans need to keep swinging at her; the 'Rats will run out of guts pretty quick on this.
Newt used to be the best. Something has happened to him. His starch is gone.
Sexist.
LLS
“Can someone tell me how I could publicly make a let’s say black racist comment but not be instantly and permanently labeled a racist?”
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You want a lot don’t you? I just want to know how to make a perfectly innocent comment without being labeled a racist!
Yes Sandra, you’re a real King Solomon. The only thing you have in common with Sol is that you mention mutilating babies (except, unlike King Sol, you mean it!).
Yes SONIA, you’re a real King Solomon. The only thing you have in common with Sol is that you mention mutilating babies (except, unlike King Sol, you mean it!).
It’s been gone for a decade now.
Of course she’s wise—just ask her. [/sarc]
A judge of all people should be humble, not pompous or condescending. The problem with judges who tout how “wise” they are is that they try to dicatate to the rest of us (who don’t know any better) from the bench. They see themselves more as Masters than as impartial judges. The reality is they are tyrants.
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