Comment

Posner on Sotomayor

137
Occasional Reader5/26/2009 12:05:23 pm PDT

re: #114 Charles

Example: in a case alleging “reverse discrimination,” in which a white male was denied a job in favor of a Latin candidate, if a judge said “I would hope that a wise white male with the richness of his experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a Latina who hasn’t lived that life.”

How many people would agree with that?

Um… not I.

The judge is supposed to be interpreting the law, not being racially/sexually “wise” (i.e., taking one side out of ethnic or gender “empathy”).

I don’t think this exactly means that Sotomayor is a Stalinist Satan’s Spawn!, but it was at best an ill-advised choice of words.