As senators pored over the 172-page biographical questionnaire completed by Judge Sonia Sotomayor, an older speech by the Supreme Court nominee cast new light on her now-famous remark that a “wise Latina” would be a better judge than a white male.
Sotomayor took one week to complete the questionnaire, which is an abbreviated biography that will be used by senators to help in the confirmation process.
It also lists her financial worth ($1.16 million in total assets) and debts ($15,800 in credit card bills) in addition to her legal opinions, public statements, interviews and speeches, among other information.
The list included Sotomayor’s now-famous lecture in which she said, “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.”
Sotomayor lists the speech under an entry for an October 2001 event at Berkeley law school titled “Raising the Bar: Latino and Latina Presence in the Judiciary and the Struggle for Representation.”
When the remarks were publicized after Sotomayor’s nomination, they caused an uproar among conservatives who said the comment pointed to a racially skewed view of the law.
But in a March 1994 speech, the judge made similar comments, which spurred no Republican objections to her promotion to an appellate judgeship in 1998.
In the speech, which is included in the questionnaire sent to the Senate on Thursday, Sotomayor tells her audience at the National Conference of Law Reviews in Puerto Rico that she takes exception to a statement made by then-Justice Sandra Day O’Connor that “a wise old man and a wise old woman reach the same conclusion in dueling cases.”
Sotomayor used almost identical language to the 2001 remarks, saying “I would hope that a wise woman with the richness of her experience would, more often than not, reach a better conclusion.”
The 1994 speech raises questions about comments by members of the Obama administration, including the president himself, that Sotomayor misspoke in her 2001 speech.
“I think she’d say that her word choice in 2001 was poor, that she was simply making the point that personal experience are relevant for the process of the judging,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said May 29.
Senate Republicans say they plan to focus on Sotomayor’s rulings, rather than her speeches. But they also plan to ask her about the remarks.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in an interview on PBS’ “Newshour” that he would not judge Sotomayor by her speeches, but by her work as a judge.
“But her speech is troubling,” Graham said. “And, quite frankly, I think she needs to address that.”
Sen. Ben Nelson, a centrist Nebraska Democrat, told the Omaha World-Herald on Wednesday said he found “troubling” Sotomayor’s “wise Latina” remarks as well as her statement that circuit courts are “where policy is made.”
