The Scandal of Sonia Sotomayor

It's fascinating how the narrative of the Sonia Sotomayor debate has become interwoven with the story of Ricci v. Destefano. At first glance, it seems odd to evaluate a judge's record on the basis of a single case. But this case has a certain newsworthiness to it. After all, when the Supreme Court rules on this, it's likely that Sotomayor's decision will be reversed. (We already have a sequel in the works! Hooray for the 24-hour news cycle!) Second, the story of Sotomayor's nomination has come to parallel the story of the New Haven firefighters.

Although I've read somewhat conflicting accounts, it seems that there were, in fact, black New Haven firefighters who passed the test in question. Had there been a smaller pool of candidates, some of them would have been selected for promotions. Given their test scores, we can assume that they were qualified, and would done just fine in the higher position. Unfortunately for them, there were other candidates who were even more qualified.

The same appears (and I stress appears) to be true of Sonia Sotomayor. If she was the most qualified candidate, that should have been stated unequivocally from the beginning. All of this irrelevant discussion of empathy and diversity cheapens her accomplishments. She was her class valedictorian in high school, Summa Cum Laude at Princeton, and she spent many years on the federal bench. I don't know if she's a good judge or not. I've never been to law school, and I don't feel qualified to comment on that.

But you know who is qualified to comment? Barack Obama. You may recall that he taught Constitutional Law at a prestigious university. Even if he did choose Sotomayor on the basis of race, he could have defused the debate by telling us otherwise. He could have discussed her judicial philosophy, and what set her apart -- from a professional standpoint -- from the other candidates on the "short list." We wouldn't have known any better. Is it too much to ask that we not revisit the affirmative action debates of the 1990s? Mr. President, you say you want to bring our country together. You say that you want to put the bitter political disputes of the past behind us. This is your chance. Make us believe that Sotomayor is the most qualified candidate out there.