A Fine Monday To You

Last week, as I drove around Cleveland listening to talk radio, I noticed two hot topics in the Sonia Sotomayor Supreme Court nomination.

Swallow the Whistle
Some pundits were quick to hammer Sotomayor's "wise Latina" remarks, in which she sort of hinted that her gender and ethnicity would help her reach better judicial decisions than a white man. Assuming those statements were not taken out of context, the lady deserves some heat. But let's not get ahead of ourselves and assume she will favor minorities beyond the normal scope of the law. Let's definitely not call her a "racist". Bottom line, is she a good judge or not? Show me the legal opinion in which she clearly butchered the law and stuck it to the white man. Then her comments will be infinitely more interesting.

No Bonus Points
On the other hand, let's not start patting each other's backs just because she is a Puerto Rican woman. Again, is she the right legal mind for the job or not? If she is in fact up to the task-and the Senate gets to decide that for us-then I suppose it is better to see some minorities represented among The Supremes.

While we're here, let's take the idea of diversity in a slightly different direction. David Fram points out that Sotomayor will make 8 of 9 justices who have little or no experience in business law. You think that might come in handy as legislators try to steer us out of the economic poop? I would add that The Supremes all went to the same schools and had the same teachers. I'd like to see some diversity of legal background.

On a Lighter Note...
Some people just have no shame.