Saturday, July 18, 2009

Sonia Sotomayor: Most Illiterate Supreme Court Nominee?

Soon to be the most illiterate Supreme Court justice. Rick Moran at the American Thinker blog was one of a number of conservative commentators who noticed that, for a 55-year-old woman who is supposedly well-educated and has been rendering judicial opinions for the last 17 of those years, good ole' Sonia doesn't have a very good command of the language she renders opinions in:

Never mind this though, because the vaunted Associated Press claims Sotomayor hasn't made any major gaffes:

After more than 10 hours of questioning by Judiciary Committee senators over two days, Sotomayor had yet to make a slip — certainly not the gaffe that even Republicans concede would be necessary to derail her nomination to be the first Hispanic and third woman to serve on the high court. She was due back for still more questioning on Thursday.

And we know that if the AP says it must be true he says with his keyboard dripping sarcasm.

Excuse me? A supposedly "wise Latina woman" who is learned enough to sit on the United States Supreme Court isn't smart enough to know the difference between "imminent" and "eminent", "province" and "providence", that the phrase is a "store of knowledge" not a "story of knowledge"? Not knowing basic word meanings and usage that should be obvious to the average freshman in high school shouldn't disqualify a 55-year-old law school graduate from becoming a U.S. Supreme Court Justice regardless of their race, gender, racial background, compelling story or what they eat for breakfast?

Apparently not, according to that paragon of journalistic integrity, Newsday:

After frankly answering questions about the role that her ethnic background would play in her judgments, Sonia Sotomayor should be confirmed to the Supreme Court.

Her biography - Puerto Rican, raised in a Bronx housing project by a widowed mother - is inspiring. Her resume - Ivy League graduate, prosecutor, federal trial court judge and appeals court judge - is exemplary. And she avoided gaffes while on the hot seat last week, displaying humor, judicial temperament and a moderate record solidly within the mainstream.

Yes, I guess it has nothing to do with whether the woman can actually think. When you are dealing with the U.S. Supreme court, a dumb Puerto Rican woman is better than a smart white (or Black for that matter) man. I suppose we're expected to chalk these huge gaffes up to the WASP bias that is inherent in the English language. She can't help it: Her Latina heritage renders her incapable of understanding the meaning of basic English language words. If only we would have been progressive enough to conduct these hearings in Spanish, she wouldn't have made these mistakes.

Let's finally admit the facts, folks. This woman was far from the best qualified to sit on the Supreme Court. But liberals -- particularly radical ideologues like Barack Obama -- don't make decisions about anything on the basis of what's best for the country. They act entirely on the basis of what is best to advance their political ideology. And Sonia Sotomayor is the embodiment of this principle.

If only Sonia's appointment to the Supreme Court were "eminent" and not "imminent".

No comments: