Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Doublespeak

The verbal assault and battery on Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor continues, but her confirmation by the Senate is all but certain. Finally, the nation's high court will get its first-ever Hispanic justice.

At long last. And in a country that looks more like the judge than the 100 members of the Senate.

It is absurd having to listen to all the blather and bluster from the conservatives over Sotomayor's "wise Latina" remark. Why did that upset the old white men, the likes of whom have dominated the Senate since the nation's founding in 1776? Have any of them met a Latino person other than someone who takes care of their children and their lawns?

Or is this the last, desperate act of fear at the changing face of America? Probably, since the U.S. Senate is one of the most exclusive clubs in the world and largely insulated from the real world. The Senate is where 83 men and 17 women lord over a nation of more than 300 million people. Since our nation's founding, the Senate has been the domain of white men. Only 37 women have graced the hallowed chambers, and 13 of those were appointed to the job.

Such partisan crap spews from the mouths of desperate old white men.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama, said he is opposed the Sotomayor nomination because of the judge’s “liberal, pro-government ideology.”


Sessions, in an Op-Ed piece in USA Today, wrote: “I don’t believe that Judge Sotomayor has the deep-rooted convictions necessary to resist the siren call of judicial activism. She has evoked its mantra too often. As someone who cares deeply about our great heritage of law, I must withhold my consent.”

Hockey pucks!

Sessions, of course, expressed none of that sentiment toward Judge John G. Roberts Jr. when he was nominated _ and confirmed _ as chief
justice. Could it be that Justice Roberts was on the same ideology page as Sen. Sessions? Naturally. I guess it is OK if the judicial activism has a conservative bent.