Sotomayor - Good Story - Bad Judge

Sonia Sotomayor is being officially announced as the Obama appointee for the supreme court. Ms Sotomayor is the example of the American dream. Starting out poor with a father who didn't go to high school and then died young, she was raised by her mother with little money. She worked hard and changed her circumstances in life through that hard work. She worked her way up through the legal hierarchy to become a judge on the court of appeals. I respect her for that, but her appointment as a Judge should not be based on her personal stories but on her job performance.

Ms Sotomayor has what Obama wants and that is empathy. The one thing that our legal system is NOT supposed to have. Justice is blind. This means that the rule of law is applied without consideration of the ethnic, religious or financial background of the parties involved. Look at the rule of law not the individuals involved. But Obama wants the blindfold removed from justice, and Ms Sotomayor has a history of stripping that blindfold and making decisions based on the background of the people.

The most glaring example of this "empathy" is in the New Haven fire department case. The fire department told the firemen that promotions would be given based on the results of a test. However, they turned around and changed the guidelines when the test results didn't show them what they wanted. Unfortunately, the people who did the best on the test were white men and a Hispanic man. The New Haven fire dept decided they couldn't promote those people because of the color of their skin. An obvious and glaring example of racism and discrimination. When the firemen sued, Ms Sotomayor threw the case out with no explanation as to why. No legal standing for the dismissal. No constitutional basis for the dismissal. Based on other things she has said, it becomes apparent that she dismissed it because it was a bunch of white men bringing the case.

This same case is now going to the Supreme Court. How awful for the men suing to then have to present the case again to the same person who summarily dismissed it.

If she were to give her opinions based on the law with equal protection for all, I'd be all for her. But that's not what she'll do. She will do in the future what she has done in the past, and that is to favor some demographic groups over others in spite of the law. Not a good place to be.