Sotomayor

I can't say I've followed closely the back-and-forth about Judge Sotomayor's qualifications and philosophy. I have of course heard the brou-ha-ha about her "wise Latina" woman line in some speeches and the implication that she'll decide cases from her heart, rather than intellect, because of her ethnic roots. I haven't heard much of the confirmation hearings, but all of the Republican questioning I've heard has focused on this topic. I understand a couple things about that "wise Latina" line: 1) it was a rhetorical riff on something Justice O'Connor had said; and 2) Rethugs didn't get their undies in a bunch during Justice Alito's confirmation hearings when he said:

When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account. When I have a case involving someone who's been subjected to discrimination because of disability, I have to think of people who I've known and admire very greatly who've had disabilities, and I've watched them struggle to overcome the barriers that society puts up often just because it doesn't think of what it's doing -- the barriers that it puts up to them.

Here (h/t Glenn Greenwald).