re: #530 anant

Has anyone read the speech from which the quote about a “wise Latina woman” making better decisions than a white man comes from?

Yes, I read it. The context doesn’t make it any less racist.

it’s absurd to think that a judge’s own life experiences don’t affect how he or she balances different factors.

Of course a judge’s life experiences will shape his/her judgement. But you argument is fallacious. To say that someone is better qualified to judge one case or another based on the fact that he or she has been through the same life experiences as a party to the case flies in the face of what our justice system is supposed to be about.

Judges are supposed to rule base on the law , not on what is right or wrong, or how they feel about something or if they have sympathies for one side or another. “Life experience” should never enter into it. Is it legal, or not? Constitutional, or not? That’s it. According to your logic, a Klansman would be a better judge in a murder trail where the defendant was also a member of the Klan.