Sotomayor’s Hearings: Double Standards And Hypocrisy

In Brown v. Board of Education, Rehnquist wrote a law memorandum for Justice Jacksons in which he argued against school desegregation. Rehnquist stated: “I think Plessy v. Ferguson is right and should be reaffirmed.”

[A Supreme Confirmation]

Many Republicans have been up in arms about Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s so-called Latina woman comment.

While speaking before the Law school class the University of California, at Berkeley, the judge noted that even great judges like Oliver Wendell Holmes had voted to uphold racial and gender discrimination.

She then noted: “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.”

Some Republicans state that Judge Sotomayor’s remarks concerning a wise Latina woman having a different perspective on issues than a white man show a certain prejudice.

Perhaps this is true. 

But this “prejudice” can be beneficial in light of our history. Let’s briefly examine the writings of the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist when he was a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson.

In Brown v. Board of Education, Rehnquist wrote a law memorandum for Justice Jacksons in which he argued against school desegregation.  Rehnquist stated:   “I think Plessy v. Ferguson is right and should be reaffirmed.”

In Terry v. Adams Rehnquist wrote in a memorandum for Justice Jackson:  “It is about time that the Court faced the fact that the white people of the South do not like the colored people.”

Justice Rehnquist believed that a black person should not go to school with a white person because of his color. Justice Rehnquist believed that a white person and a black person should not eat at the same lunch counter.

Well, I believe that any Latina woman would be understood the hatred of discrimination better than a wise white man like William Rehnquist.

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“Speaking Truth To Power.”

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