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Home  Community Voices What We Missed in the Sotomayor Hearings
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What We Missed in the Sotomayor Hearings |
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Written by Bobby Grace
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Thursday, 30 July 2009 |
Deputy District Attorney with Los Angeles County.
Sen. Lindsay Graham’s, (R- SC) announcement that he would be voting to confirm Federal Appellate Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination as the next U.S Supreme Court justice was an acknowledgement of the obvious. Judge Sotomayor will be seated as the first Hispanic American on the Supreme Court. The media hyped the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings as the must-see event of the summer, but they proved to be underwhelming at best. The hearings were also disappointing for their failure to spur discussion on three topics that were important for the country to hear, weigh and digest.
First and foremost, the Senate Judiciary committee should have spent more time highlighting the qualifications of Sotomayor. After graduating from Yale law school, Judge Sotomayor forged a distinguished legal career. Sotomayor’s first job out of law school was as an Assistant District Attorney with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in her home state of New York. There, Sotomayor was recognized as an aggressive and skillful trial lawyer who was passionate about the cases she tried and community whom she served. During this time, she befriended Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, a powerful and influential ally. Upon leaving the Manhattan DA Office, Sotomayor entered private practice with a small litigation firm where she made partner. Throughout her career, Sotomayor maintained her ties with Morgenthau. Thus, when a federal district court judgeship opened up 1991, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the Democratic senator from New York, and Morgenthau lobbied to have Sotomayor appointed. President George H.W. Bush appointed Sotomayor to the federal district court in 1992. In 1997, Sotomayor was nominated by President Bill Clinton to the Federal Court of Appeals. Senate Republicans, fearing that she might eventually be nominated to the Supreme Court, stalled her nomination until 1998. Senator Al D’Amato, the Republican from New York, ended the stalemate and the Senate confirmed Sotomayor’s appointment early that year. President Obama selected Sotomayor to be his nominee for a Supreme Court Justice in 2009.
Second, it was also disappointing that the Senate did not discuss the role that affirmative action played in making Sotomayor the next Supreme Court Justice. Judge Sotomayor grew up poor, and lived in housing projects in the Bronx borough of New York. She attended Princeton University and Yale Law School on scholarships and she has attributed her admission to both those institutions to affirmative action programs. Sotomayor graduated summa cum laude from Princeton and was an editor of the Yale Law Journal while in law school. She is a great example of how affirmative action gives those blocked from opportunity due to race or poverty a chance to rise to whatever level their talent can take them. Affirmative action gave Sotomayor the opportunity to attend Ivy League schools; but her own abilities carried her from there. Discussing affirmative action would have been valuable to the country especially at a time when many feel that affirmative action is no longer necessary. Sotomayor’s career drives home the point that unless schools and individuals take steps to promote the poor and the disadvantaged, advancement will not take place. Moynihan and Morgenthau had to make a conscious decision that they wanted a Hispanic to eventually be named to the Supreme Court. Princeton and Yale had to make a conscious effort to enroll more Hispanics at their institutions or Sotomayor would never been in a position to be nominated. Public and private entities must recognize the value of affirmative action as a tool to make our society more equitable and just.
Finally, the country missed out on an opportunity to discuss why the Senate Judiciary Committee is not more diverse. This panel that considered Sotomayor’s nomination has nineteen members. Two of the members are women and there are no people of color. They should be taking the lead in encouraging the President to nominate more women and people of color to the Federal Court of Appeals. Yet, this doesn’t appear to be a priority within the Senate, based on their choices for the Judiciary Committee. That would make sense because the full Senate is not reflective of the country. Of the 100 member body, two Senators are Hispanic, two are Asian and one is African American. The Senate is the best example of the lack of diversity in the governance of the nation.
Why is this important? The main topic of the summer, besides the Sotomayor hearings, has been the overhaul of health care. No one would argue that the poor and people of color in this country don’t have a huge stake in the outcome of any health care debate in the Senate. Yet, there is no one to represent their interest there. Isn’t it time, in the age of Obama, that we have a seat at the table. At least we could have talked about it…
Bobby Grace’s views are not the views of the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office.
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