Comment

Posner on Sotomayor

286
Charles5/26/2009 12:48:24 pm PDT

re: #271 Occasional Reader

Actually, I don’t think she was quite making the tu quoque (fallacious) argument. More like: Since “wise” judges made racist decisions in the past, therefore “wisdom” is baloney, and we should pay attention instead to skin color, gender, and ethnicity.

But that’s an exaggeration. She did qualify the statement, and said that “many are so capable” of making judgments related to groups other than their own. And she’s not wrong when she points out that SC justices have, in the past, voted to uphold unjust laws.

I just don’t see these statements as being horribly racist — I think she made a fairly measured, qualified argument. I don’t necessarily agree with the argument 100%, but she’s not completely wrong, either.