One way to lessen the impact of Sonia Sotomayor’s “wise Latina” comment is to misquote it. That was what happened at the Sotomayor confirmation hearings today when Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy asked Sotomayor to comment on her controversial remarks. “You said that, quote, you ‘would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would reach wise decisions…'” Leahy said to Sotomayor. “So tell us, you’ve heard all of these charges and countercharges, the wise Latina and on and on…tell us what’s going on.”
If Sotomayor had said what Leahy said she said, it’s unlikely there would ever have been a “wise Latina” controversy. But what Sotomayor actually said, in her 2001 Berkeley speech was, “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” [Emphasis added]
When it was his turn to speak, ranking Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions said of Leahy, “I would suggest that the quotation he gave was not exactly right of the wise Latina comment.” Sessions then read the correct quote. It was only then that Sotomayor said her remark “fell flat” and “left an impression that I believed that life experiences commanded a result in a case, but that’s clearly not what I do as a judge.” But Democrats, so far at least, have not grappled with the full and correct text of the “wise Latina” remark.
-Byron York
