Justice Sotomayor: "I´m Very Optimistic About the Power of Minorities"—Is This Appropriate Public Talk for a Supreme Court Justice?
03/12/2014
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I recall that—in my one and only visit to Washington, D.C., with a group of 4-H Club high schoolers visiting from Oklahoma — I was impressed with the Supreme Court building. There was something special about it.  It had a certain dignity about it.

It would certainly be reassuring  to think of the Supreme Court and its justices, in that building,  as operating above the hurly-burly of rough and tumble politics while calmly reasoning their cases, basing their decisions  on the U.S. Constitution and the Anglo-American legal tradition.

I know, dream on.

The current court, though, seems to have reached a new low.  Listen to "Wise Latina" Sonia Sotomayor publicly gloat over minorities gaining power:

On Monday[March 10th], Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor stated that she believed that women and minorities had to crash the halls of power in order to “change the dialogue in this country.” She said that “money” was the obstacle to women and minorities having a say in government, adding, “we’re going to have to work the political system at the highest level.”

Sotomayor was speaking at the University of Washington, pushing her book, My Beloved Life. A student questioned if she was optimistic about the future of the country. She stated, “I’m very optimistic about the power of minorities to change the dialogue in this country.”

Before 1,200 students, Sotomayor also characterized the Supreme Court as “the most moral institution” in government. “The work you do the best is the work you love,” she explained. “The greatest contribution you can make is figuring out what you think is important to you, what kind of work will satisfy you, what kind of work will make you feel meaningful, what kind of work will make a contribution to improving something that you think is significant.”

It's a merger of agressive identity politics with pop psychology.

Sotomayor then wandered into the crowd, where students took selfies with her.

That's real dignified -"Here's my selfie with a Supreme Court Justice."

Sotomayor has routinely stated in speeches over the past 20 years, "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would, more often than not, reach a better conclusion."
Sotomayor: 'I'm Very Optimistic About The Power of Minorities...'  Truth Revolt, March 11, 2014

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