Sotomayor Used ‘Wise Latina’ Line More than Once
Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s controversial remark about wise Latina judges has appeared in more than one speech.
Sotomayor frequently remarked on her ethnicity and gender in 84 speeches released by the White House yesterday, according to reports in the New York Times and the Washington Post. The speeches by Sotomayor, who is of Puerto Rican descent, show the Supreme Court nominee “is driven by a powerful ethnic pride and a belief that she has an obligation to lift up fellow people of color,” the Post says.
Earlier reports of the controversial remark identified a 2001 law speech at the University of California at Berkeley in which Sotomayor said the ethnicity and sex of a judge “may and will make a difference in our judging.”
“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,” said Sotomayor, who is of Puerto Rican descent.
The Washington Post found another 1999 speech to the Women’s Bar Association of New York State in which Sotomayor referred to “sister power” and used similar phrasing. “I would hope that a wise woman with the richness of her experiences would, more often than not, reach a better conclusion,” she said.
The Times said Sotomayor made the wise judging comment, referring to women generally, in 1994. Then in 2003 she said a “wise Latina woman” would “reach a better conclusion,” although she didn’t say better than whom.
The White House argues that Sotomayor has explained that she is impartial despite her references to her background. It points to a speech in which she said, “I have to unhook myself from my emotional responses and try to stay within my unemotional, objective persona.”
Other Sotomayor quotes published in the Times and Post stories:
“Somewhere all of us Puerto Ricans and people of color have had a defining moment when we were shocked into learning that we were different and that American society treated us differently. … The shock and sense of being an alien will never again, I suspect, be as profound for any of us as that first experience, because I know from personal experience that our education and professional training have equipped us to deal better in this sometimes alien land.”
“The Latina in me is an ember that blazes forever.”
“America has a deeply confused image of itself that is a perpetual source of tension. … We are a nation that takes pride in our ethnic diversity, recognizing its importance in shaping our society and in adding richness to its existence. Yet we simultaneously insist that we can and must function and live in a race- and color-blind way that ignores those very differences that in other contexts we laud.”
[On one reason for a delay in her confirmation as an appeals judge on the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals] “I was dealt with on the basis of stereotypes … and it was painful … and not based on my record. … I got a label because I was Hispanic and a woman and [therefore] I had to be liberal.”
