On Sotomayor

Obama's first choice SCOTUS nomination is not a big surprise -- people have been speculating Sotomayor since before he was elected. If she makes it through confirmation (which she should), her judgeship could have a massive effect on the course of US case law. If the baseball ruling is any indication, Sotomayor has an eye for the "little guy" (even when the little guy is huge athletes making millions of dollars annually), which bodes well for labor relations and the like. She's relatively young, only 54, combined with the fact that she's a woman suggests the likelihood of a long tenure, i.e. sustained influence.

What I find really fascinating about the coverage of the SCOTUS tapping, though, is the focus on Sotomayor's apparent assertion that a person's life experience, including but not limited to their race, gender, religion, social status and (duh) specific legal preparation will inevitably influence rulings. Conservatives are all up in arms about this fact, and this left me scratching my head for a while. How could anyone make judgment calls from anywhere but their own skin, their own experience? Then I remembered that conservative courts consist almost exclusively of straight wealthy white men. So the issue is really ruling from the body and history of a middle aged Latina from the Bronx.

The belief that one's experience is universal may be the crux of privilege -- all types -- male, white, hetero, cisgender, economic, and so on. In order to believe that a judge is impartial in an absolute sense, one must believe that he speaks from a place of absolute authority and a pure world view -- we wouldn't want our justice contaminated by particular compassion for oppressed groups, for example. If creative nonfiction classes have taught me one thing, it's that Americans need to think harder about our notions of objectivity, truth, fairness, and that whole universe of ideas. We need to become comfortable speaking from our own bodies and histories, and not subjugating the truths we live to a so-called universal norm. Sonia Sotomayor's experience reflects that of some part of America, and I'd wager, a much bigger percentage than just women of color -- the experience of any type of oppression changes world views, and in my opinion, changes them for the wiser.

And that is why I'm stoked about Sotomayor -- because we may, on a national level, get to have this discussion about universality and truth. Also because, as Blanca points out, she used to have a little now she has a lot and no matter where she goes she knows where she came from (the Bronx).