The first days since the president announced Judge Sonia Sotomayor as his pick for the Supreme Court has clarified some things about the nominee, but left others still unclear. Hopefully the Senate will not succumb to President Obama’s pressure to confirm Sotomayor hastily. Failure to act deliberatively in a matter of such note would constitute a serious disservice to the constitutional responsibility of the Senate and to the American people who will, after all, reap the benefit or suffer the harm from decisions in which she will participate for many years to come.
What is clear is that Sotomayor is well-educated, hard-working and intelligent. These are all laudable —- indeed essential —- attributes of a prospective high court justice. It has also been made known that she is of Puerto Rican background, has diabetes, grew up in the Bronx, may be a Yankees fan and has “empathy” —- all factors completely irrelevant to consideration of a person to sit on the Supreme Court.
One can also infer that Sotomayor is unusually talkative for a judge, and that she may not think carefully about what she says publicly, at least before saying it. In 2001, she spoke about her own ethnic background as the proper basis on which to base her professional actions. Then, at a public forum in 2005 she opined that the federal appellate bench is where “policy is made.” These last remarks are even more troubling in the context of her accompanying comment that district court judges, by contrast, render decisions based on facts.
http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2009/06/01/barred0601.html
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