Saturday, May 30, 2009

Two things on Sotomayor

Honestly, I don't have much to say about the nomination of Judge Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. I am almost certain that she will be confirmed; I only hope that the Republicans that question her spend more time with good, well-researched questions that allow the nominee to show her judicial acumen (while also presenting the opportunity for great follow-up, which the Republicans NEED to do) than with grandstanding, in stark contrast to the Dems of the last 8 years.

But there are two things that NEED to be done in these proceedings:

a) The case of Ricci v DeStefano, which will play a prominent role in the hearings, needs to be framed as a case of plain old discrimination--not reverse discrimination. As subtle as the difference may be, it needs to be framed as such time and time again that Sotomayor did not so much as lift a finger for the plaintiff as the acceptance of racial preference was being played out in her court. "Reverse" discrimination is a liberal concoction that somehow makes the whole exercise more palatable; the game should not be played on a left-leaning field. Let the judge defend her lack of actions and the Dems vote on those actions on a public, current case of classic DISCRIMINATION. I doubt it will be a tripwire, but it will be interesting to watch her navigate that field nonetheless.

b) I understand, via Powerline, that Frank Ricci, the plaintiff in the above case, may be called to testify in the nomination proceedings. . .when one of the people who were bypassed for promotion is Hispanic. THAT'S who should be called to testify before the court. I don't care if he's a dyed-in-the-wool leftist who has slept with an action figure of Walter Mondale since he was a teenager, the Republicans on the committee MUST get the hispanic who was wrongfully treated on the basis of nothing other than race at these confirmation hearings. It would be great if he just so happened to talk about how much "empathy" he felt Sotomayor displayed toward his situation when his promotion was denied--which is probably wishful thinking, but it's not out of the box of reality. Regardless, though, the face of the Ricci case does not need to lend itself to cries of "racism": if the left wants to play that game. . .well, two can play that way.

Seriously, only today's Republican party could not see that angle.

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