The XX Factor: What women really think.

What About Sotomayor's Underlying Sentiment?

You're right, Hanna. The White House, and Sotomayor, too, by agreeing to the walk back, are giving the "wise Latina" mini-fracas more air, not less. Her speech sparked an interesting and even vital discussion this week about the value of having judges with different life experiences on the bench. Now we move to hedging and hemming and hawing? I'll ask the next question they'd all be better off not spending the weekend fielding... (To read the rest of this post, visit our new website DoubleX.com!)

Her Word Choice Was Not That Poor

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said today that the president would say that Sotomayor's word choice in her suddenly-infamous Berkeley speech was "poor." It's maddening that the White House is now taking this line. Maybe they mean to take the air out of it, but I bet it will accomplish the opposite, and give everyone license to talk about it again all weekend. This was a published speech, after all, not an off-the-cuff remark, and presumably the Berkeley La Raza Law Journal allows authors to edit copy, like everyone else.

What Does It Mean to Oppose Identity Politics?

I’ve been reading a lot of headlines to the effect that “Identity politics are condescending,” and I’ve come to the conclusion that I have no idea what identity politics are. To me, the phrase has always referred to the dated assumption that the interests of any particular subgroup are best represented by other members of that subgroup. So the expectation is that Sotomayor will... (To read the rest of this post, visit our new website DoubleX.com!)

Of Course the Bench Would Be Better With More Latina Judges

A guest post from Cornell law professor Eduardo M. Peñalver, who clerked on the Second Circuit for Judge Guido Calabresi and on the Supreme Court for Justice John Paul Stevens:

As some of you have pointed out, considered in the context the rest of her speech, it is clear that Sotomayor merely meant that appointing “a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences” to the bench would (on average) do more to improve judicial decision-making than appointing a(nother) comparably wise white male judge. Understood in this way, the comment is benign and, more importantly, almost certainly true.

Crucial to understanding Judge Sotomayor’s argument is... (To read the rest of this post, visit our new website DoubleX.com!)

It's Only Activism When Liberals Say It

Jason Linkins has a great piece up at Huffington Post quoting Justice Samuel Alito on the virtues of judicial empathy. (“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.") And also quoting Antonin Scalia on the power of courts to “make law.” To which I add... (To read the rest of this post, visit our new website DoubleX.com!)

Enough Already About Sotomayor and Identity Politics

A guest post from Yale law professor Heather Gerken:

Over the last day, I’ve been fielding calls from reporters, members of your tribe, many of whom have asked some variation on the following questions: “What role does identity politics play on the Supreme Court, and should those who support civil-rights causes be happy about Judge Sotomayor’s nomination?” (This, for what it’s worth, is almost a direct quote).

There is only one sensible answer to such questions. Please stop. Honestly. It’s embarrassing even to have to say this, but let me spell it out... (To read the rest of this post, visit our new website DoubleX.com!)

Critics of Sotomayor Aren't Guilty of Racism or Sexism. They're Guilty of Ageism!

Sotomayor, Reverse Racist

Sotomayor Holds Her Nose

A New Kind of Feminist Justice?

Why Does Sotomayor Want Us to Think She Is Ordinary?

Accepting Obama's nomination to replace Justice Souter on the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor said:

I hope that as the Senate and American people learn more about me, they will see that I am an ordinary person who has been blessed with extraordinary opportunities and experiences.

Set aside the choice to describe her childhood—growing up with diabetes in a poor, single-family household—as having been "blessed with extraordinary opportunities." What troubles me is the plea from a woman just nominated to fill one of the most powerful, demanding, intellectually challenging positions in the nation to be viewed as "ordinary"... (To read the rest of this post, visit our new website DoubleX.com!)

The Latina Is Wiser than the White Man!

Emily, you pull out the critical quote from Sotomayor's speech: "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."

This quote does not go down easy. As Stuart Taylor pointed out last week, what if Samuel Alito had said: "I would hope that a white male with the richness of his traditional American values would reach a better conclusion than a Latina woman who hasn't lived that life." We would chuck him over to some Idaho compound, no?... (To read the rest of this post, visit our new website DoubleX.com!)

Sotomayor on Her Latina Wisdom

It's rare for a prominent public official to confront identity politics head on, as Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor did in this 2002 speech at the University of California, Berkeley. She says, "Who am I? I am a "Newyorkrican." For those of you on the West Coast who do not know what that term means: I am a born and bred New Yorker of Puerto Rican-born parents who came to the states during World War II." She talks about what that means in terms of her upbringing—eating "mucho platos de arroz, gandoles y pernir—rice, beans and pork," singing merengue, watching Spanish comedy films, playing with her cousins at her grandmother's house. She mentions that she speaks Spanish while carefully noting that her brother does not, and that this is not a necessary ingredient of Latino identity.