Sonia Sotomayor

The Sotomayor appointment to the supreme Court has raised a lot of issues-and most of them are irrelevant-the only relevant issue in appoinments of this kind is qualifications-is she qualified to be a Supreme court justice?-the answer is of course yes- a resounding yes-and the objections that have been raised are almost entirley political-that she was 3rd in her class at Princeton and on the law review at Yale quickly dismisses any objections there might have been on the grounds of her inttelectual capacity-but the real issue is her experience- the jobs she has been appointed to and her record as a judge-after law school she spent five years as an assistant DA inthe Manhattan office of District Attorney Robert Morgenthau-then a brief stint in private practice was followed by her first appointment-that a republican president appointed her tells a different story then the one we are hearing from Rush Limbaugh and others-Pres Bush appointed her to the Federal District Court in the southern district of NY-she spent several years there before President Bill Cinton moved her up to The court of Appeals-where she has benn ever since-17 years on the court of Appeals-and a stlellar record there- her off-hand comments-are not fair game- and they do not represent a cultural or racial bias- they do show a pride in bening a woman and a pride in her background-nothing there-but of course her opponents tried to make as much of it as possible-she is undeniably one of the 10 best qualified justices in the US right now-she more then meets the standard- she clearly was not chosen because she is a latina-she was chosen because she was the best qualified woman on the bench-that she is latina is a plus in many ways but not the prevailing reason for the choice- the same is true for Obama- he was imply the best qualified- the smartest-the best temperament-and the most able in the sense of his leadership abilities- this was amply demonstrated in the campaign-most people did not choose him because he represents a racial minority -they chose him because he was the best qualified and the logical choice for the times we live in- he is not black by the way- he is half black half white- mixed racial heritage-nothing there- but it is a fact- his wife Michelle however is black- and she is every bit as impressive as he is and every bit as smart too-now lets look at the appointment of Justice Thomas- he was appointed by Pres Bush senior just before he left office- he replaced the first b;ack justice- Thurgood Marshall who was appointed by Pres Johnson- Marshall had some qualifications- not many- but some- he was a brilliant lawyer who represented the plaintiff in the iconic Brown vs the Bd of education case-he demonstrated his ability beyond question-but he did lack experience as a judge- the appoinment was courageous in many ways- but it did have some political agenda behind it-the liberals knew they could count on his voice in the court for many years-justice Thomas had none of the experience or demonstrated ability of thurgood marshall-he did have the edvantage of being conservative and Black- Bush knew no one would object to his nomination on the grounds of his qualifications because he knew they would be afraid of being called a rascist-nontheless the confirmation process was held up by the hearings that investigated accusations of sexual harassment by anita Hill- a brave woman who did not seek to undermine the appointment but merely answered some questions truthfully when she was interviewed concerning the appointment- she had worked for justioce thomas when he was director of the EPA-however one feels about his guilt or innocence it is clear that he was unqualified-he effectively ended any futher questions into his character and or background when he delivered the memorable line at the hearings-THIS IS A HIGH TECH LYNCHING OF AN UPPITY NIGGER-you could see the fear in the eyes of the justice committee-can't touch that-and can't appear to be biased in any way-not good when election time comes around-justice thomas cannot be blamed in any of this-he was selected-why not go through with it- it was the responsibility of the committee to DO their job in evaluating his qualifications-it was a cynical choice by pres Bush and he should have known better- the fact that he appointed Sonia Sotomayor proves that he knows better-justice thomas cannot be considered a justice with a distinguished record on the court- either for his opinions- that line up with justice Scalia's almost every time- or for his lack of experience-but he has not been accused of anything like sexual harassment either-he is serving out his term in a mediocre way which was to be expected considering his qualifications for the job- Sonia Sotomayor however-is a brilliant choice- she has the chance to continue her stellar work as a justice- but this time on our highest court- it is a time to rejoice-and everyone who is inspired- hispanic americans- people from disadvantaged backgrounds -Princeton graduates -her family and anyone else should be allowed to celebrate her achievement without apologizing for it.All for now