Opinion> Connie Schultz> Finally They Want To Know A Woman S Mind

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Finally, They Want To Know a Woman's Mind

Suddenly, America is all a-twitter over what a woman thinks.

Thank you, Sonia Sotomayor. You single-handedly have forced men to debate the contents of a woman's mind.

Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the president's nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, is an Ivy League-educated Latina who has served for nearly 20 years on the federal bench. She readily admits that she benefited from laws meant to give Americans like her equal footing with those more privileged and way whiter.

She also suggests her life experiences inform the way she sees the world, which makes her like everyone else on the planet.

Most are familiar with the now-famous quote from a 2001 speech she gave at the University of California, Berkley: "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."

Oh, boy. That brought 'em out. Newt Gingrich called Sotomayor a racist and insisted that she withdraw her name from nomination. Rush Lim—. Oh, never mind.

Some Republican leaders blasted Gingrich and his groupies, and he soon apologized. Perhaps they read Sotomayor's comments in context, which I happily provide below:

Justice (Sandra Day) O'Connor has often been cited as saying that a wise old man and wise old woman will reach the same conclusion in deciding cases. I am not so sure Justice O'Connor is the author of that line. … I am also not so sure that I agree with the statement. First, as professor Martha Minnow has noted, there can never be a universal definition of wise. Second, 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.

Let us not forget that wise men like Oliver Wendell Holmes and Justice (Benjamin) Cardozo voted on cases which upheld both sex and race discrimination in our society. Until 1972, no Supreme Court case ever upheld the claim of a woman in a gender discrimination case.

I, like professor (Stephen) Carter, believe that we should not be so myopic as to believe that others of different experiences or backgrounds are incapable of understanding the values and needs of people from a different group. Many are so capable. As Judge (Miriam Goldman) Cedarbaum pointed out to me, nine white men on the Supreme Court in the past have done so on many occasions and on many issues, including Brown (v. Board of Education).

Um, did she just praise a bunch of white guys?

Oops.

In recent days, Sotomayor has released videos containing comments she has made during the past 25 years. I guess somebody thinks she needs to explain that whole empathy thing she has going with real people.

In a 1994 interview, she admitted to sometimes having feelings on the job, such as when she has had to sentence men to long prison terms while their wives sobbed in the courtroom.

"Does that translate into a passion or a compassion that affects my judgment? No. But it makes it much more important for me to be careful when I exercise my judgment. And any judge who I think tends to suppress that might be doing a disservice. You have to know what people feel."

Moved by the anguish of others? This dame is dangerous.

Also in 1994, she talked to students about the impact of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling, which struck down school segregation.

"That was the courts telling the society, 'You have to change.' And change we did. Look around this room. There's a lot of colors in this room. There's a lot of women. There are boys and girls, people from all parts of Latin America and the Caribbean, African-Americans. I see some Asian-Americans. We are a country of the kind we've become because a court had the vision to say to our society, 'Change.' And we did."

Wow. In one paragraph, she plays the race card, the gender card and the immigration card. It's like Miss Nancy from "Romper Room" holding up her magic mirror and saying, "I see Juanita and Rolando and Jamal and Liu Wong. …"

What does she think this is? America?

Connie Schultz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and the author of two books from Random House: "Life Happens" and "… and His Lovely Wife." To find out more about Connie Schultz (cschultz@plaind.com) and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.