Mike Gonzalez of the Heritage Foundation wrote an insightful article on the background of Sonia Sotomayor, the Supreme Court nominee before Congress this week.
Sotomayor and racial identity politics, by Mike Gonzalez
Sonia Sotomayor has broken quite a few barriers in her life. If she is confirmed as a Supreme Court justice–as seems likely–she will become the first Puerto Rican to sit on the high court. She may even become the first justice to come from one of the Bronx’s notorious government housing projects. She will not, however, be the first Hispanic, nor the first Latin.
You may ask before reading on, why is that important? It wouldn’t be, in a rational world. But it has been Judge Sotomayor herself, as well as her supporters, trumpeting her ethnic bona fides. The judge, moreover, has consistently displayed a weakness for the grievance industry that parallels our hodge-podge of ethnic labels. By insisting – not just in a single quote, but over a lifetime of activism – that her background permits her to use the rules of logic differently, Sotomayor has invited scrutiny on just what these labels really mean.
Read the rest of the article here at the Heritage Foundation website.
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