Sotomayor, a sound choice

In presenting U.S. Circuit Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor as his first nominee to the Supreme Court, President Obama rightly observed :_Obama_s_remarks_on_choice_of_Sonia_Sotomayor_for_Supreme_Court/ that few presidential decisions are more consequential than choosing a justice. Obama has discharged that responsibility admirably, without ignoring considerations of gender and ethnic diversity. Although Sotomayor must withstand scrutiny from the Senate, barring some unlikely revelation of impropriety she should be confirmed expeditiously, in time to join the court for its fall term.

Sotomayor doesn't possess the political experience that would be brought to the court's cloistered chambers by Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm or Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. But she satisfies Obama's other criteria: experience, erudition and, as he put it, "a common touch and a sense of compassion, an understanding of how the world works and how ordinary people live."

This was a sensible reformulation of the president's insistence that he was looking for a justice with "the empathy to recognize what it's like to be a teenaged mom; the empathy to understand what it's like to be poor or African American or gay or disabled or old." Conservatives pounced on the empathy standard, arguing that it conflicted with a judge's oath to "do equal right to the poor and to the rich." But Obama's point was that the court benefits when justices have a lived experience of the law rather than a more abstract appreciation for doctrine.

Sotomayor is being criticized for a similar observation in a 2001 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 [as a judge] than a white male who hasn't lived that life." Sotomayor may have been loose with her words, but her point is sound. In some cases, the gender of a judge will shape his or her legal analysis, as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg demonstrated in dissents when her male colleagues adopted a blinkered view of sex discrimination in the workplace. Congress has since agreed with Ginsburg in one of those discrimination cases and adopted her view as law.

Sotomayor's experiences as a Latina raised in a housing project who went on to excel at Princeton and Yale don't in themselves qualify her for the court. They do, however, complement her sterling credentials and equip her with perspectives that could illuminate legal issues that come before her. So does her experience as a trial judge, applying the often abstract rulings of the Supreme Court to particular cases. None of the eight justices she would join has comparable experience.