By Suzanne Tate
Opinion Page Editor / Bristol Herald Courier
Published: June 2, 2009

Looking at her strong academic background and 17 years on the federal bench, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic woman nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, appears to be an exceptionally qualified candidate.

President Barack Obama has said he wants a Supreme Court justice who will bring real-life experience and empathy to the court, but those statements have alarmed conservatives who fear Sotomayor will decide cases based on “identity politics” – political action advancing the interests of a group whose members believe they are oppressed based on shared race, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation.

What especially concerns critics, and must be addressed as Sotomayor meets with Congress this week, are previous decisions and statements she has made regarding race and gender.

Unlike former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who said she believed that a wise old man and a wise old woman could reach similar decisions, Sotomayor, in a 2001 speech at the University of California-Berkley, said: “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”

Sotomayor has been vilified by right-wing radio hosts and pundits who say that statement proves she is racist. We don’t support name-calling, and we want to hear her out. Her statement sounds like something said by a person who is proud of her heritage, not necessarily a person who hates another group.

And remember that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito made similar remarks about the value and importance of his Italian heritage. “When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account,” Alito said during his Senate confirmation hearing.

Read more on the opinion page of the Wednesday edition of the Bristol Herald Courier.