I am a Liberal- no apologies, no ifs, ands, or buts. I have never voted for a Republican for a major political office that I can recall. As most of the issues that come before the Supreme Court are ones that affect society and rule of law, I have a pronounced leaning toward the Left on Supreme Court decisions. I believe that Roe vs. Wade and recent legislation allowing gay marriage should be allowed to stand as is. I fear a Court that is stacked with justices to the Right who will rule in a socially restrictive way. I am in favor of a socially and ethnically diverse Court that more truly represents the viewpoints and experiences of American society as a whole.
That said, I have to say that I am not in favor of Sonia Sotomayor being appointed as a Supreme Court Justice. While it is natural to have a bias, it is another entirely to be publicly proud of having an obvious bias and to promote that bias as one that makes you superior in judgement to another that does not have one. As a judge, Ms. Sotomayor has allowed her personal experiences to taint her impartiality while on the bench, which to me is improper and irresponsible. While one’s personal experience can provide some enlightenment in some instances, it can also provide a detrimental prejudice that does not allow the truth to be seen in others.
It is a Supreme Court Justice’s job to be fair and impartial, and to rule according to the dictates and intention of the Constitution. Whether you like it or not, the right of a member of the KKK to spew racist venom, Ann Coulter to make nasty and unfounded comments about single mothers, or the leaders of the Nation of Islam to make anti-white statements are just as valid under the Constitution as the rights of Martin Luther King, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln were to speak higher truths. You cannot use your experience of discrimination at the hands of one of these groups to color your judgement, because as citizens of the United States of America, they all have share equally in the right to speak freely. This is just as true with other rights as it is with free speech.
While I’m sure that, as a Liberal, I would agree with much of what Ms. Sotomayor stands for personally, I cannot let those views come before rule of law. As a member of the highest court in the land, there is no one above the Supreme Court to check their rulings, no appeal. No one to keep an eye on the Supreme Court’s objective fulfillment of their duty. I am not confident in Ms. Sotomayor’s ability to lend an impartial eye to the cases before her as a Justice, when she has spent the bulk of her legal career as an advocate (including her time as a judge.)
If a citizen cannot expect fair and impartial treatment at the hands of the Supreme Court, to be heard as equal under the Constitution, then there can be no guarantee of impartiality in any American court . Whether she represents a minority group and voting block or not, Sonia Sotomayor has no business being on the Supreme Court.
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