Justice Sotomayor Walks Back ‘Hurtful’ Comments Made About Kavanaugh
It's not every day you see a public apology from a sitting SCOTUS Justice... Here's the 411
Justice Sotomayor made a public apology to Justice Kavanaugh for making an unprovoked public criticism of his personal character and judgment at a Kansas Law School appearance.
Singling out his comments, but not mentioning Kavanaugh by name, Sotomayor claimed Kavanaugh’s position on the reasonableness of Homeland Security using ethnicity as one of several factors determining whether brief immigration stops should be made.
Sotomayor used his comments as an opportunity to personally disparage him (by implication, if not by name), as ‘out of touch’.
“I had a colleague in that case who wrote, you know, these are only temporary stops,” Justice Sotomayor said during the remarks in Kansas, Bloomberg reported. “This is from a man whose parents were professionals. And probably doesn’t really know any person who works by the hour.”
On Wednesday, she acknowledged those remarks crossed lines.
“I made remarks that were inappropriate,” she said. “I regret my hurtful comments. I have apologized to my colleague.” — WashingtonTimes
The fact that she made such comments serves as an uncomfortable reminder that this is not the first time she has suggested demographics plays a significant role in judicial pronouncements, and by not-so-subtle implication, her own.
“Second, 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.” — NPR
The context of the controversial speech was making the case that results delivered by female judges were (at least in the incidents she cited) preferable to the results delivered by male judges. (See the NPR story for further context).
It’s all well and good for her to apologize for the public statements she has made with respect to Kavanaugh. But a far more pressing question lingers, unanswered: what other ONGOING biases and assumptions is the self-described ‘Wise Latina’ bringing with her to the courtroom?
And against WHICH potential court petitioners are those biases detrimental?
Seems like an important question. Especially now.