Does The Sonia Sotomayor Confirmation Fill A Quota?

I know many people are very pleased with the "successful" confirmation of now Justice Sotomayor. It does have a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Out of 111 Justices, she is the third woman and first Latino to be appointed. The Republicans continue to live up to their surly, childish ways with nearly 2/3rds voting against her. In total nine came on board so this could be wrapped up. 

Obama gets kudos while acting to CYA by immediately catering to Latino voters in nominating her in the first place. Not that she isn't immensely qualified, but let this be a lesson to black voters that if "we" don't have a cohesive coalition in place we'll get NOTHING from Obama. To suggest this to the "he's one of us" and "let's wait and see" crowd is akin to banging your head against a brick wall. After that wasted effort at defending Skippy Gates - which offered ZERO value to black women - he won't so much as stick his finger in air lest it offend some group of ready-to-be-disgruntled whites. 

I can't help but think of the Clarence Thomas appointment with ALL of the red flags presenting themselves very clearly and how he more or less sailed through. I was too young to understand what was going on then. The slight road bump was presented with Anita Hill's testimony of his sexual misconduct and contempt he expressed towards her. I've researched the transcripts now and can't believe this man got through. He was supposed to fill the Thurgood Marshall seat. So any black man was okay apparently.  

I don't care that he's married to a white woman. I don't care that he wasn't elevated through the "black community" either. His contempt and hatred for blacks was obvious though. It wasn't an expression of his free agency from a narrow definition of blackness either. Many blacks foolishly supported him simply based on shared phenotype while ignoring his history. Ever since he's been a Justice he has attempted to destroy all collective progress that other blacks were terrorized and died for. 

Which brings me to Sotomayor. If so many could get swept up in symbolism with Thomas why not with her? Yes, she is a woman but that in and of itself it NOT a guarantee that she'll vote progressively. So while many are doing the happy dance, people had better remember these appointments are FOR LIFE and they have COMPLETE AUTONOMY. Every week I think about how John Roberts was appointed and not just as a junior SCOTUS but the Chief Justice it makes me so angry. This was the man who advised Ronald Reagan to back away from publicly acknowledging AIDS at a crucial time. It set back funding for research and discouraged a change in behavior that would have saved lives. Instead of it being listed as an epidemic Reagan remained silent allowing millions more to die than what was necessary. 

So while I'm glad it's not yet another white male I can't say for sure this newest Justice will help usher in a roadblock of her own to stop the ideologues...or if it's just business as usual. We need at least two more women and one of them had better be black! Of course I'm not counting on Obama to appoint one. For the reasons listed above, but Kimberlie Crenshaw deserves to be a SCOTUS. If you will recall Souter was appointed as a Conservative and often voted socially progressive by comparison to his colleagues. Of course those Republicans (white males wanting to hold on to their privilege) are still being difficult.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, took aim at what he claimed was Sotomayor's inability to refrain from bringing her personal political opinions to bear on her rulings. 

"This is the most fundamental test for any judge and all the more so for those who would sit on our nation's highest court, where a judge's impulses and preferences are not subject to review. Because I'm not convinced that Judge Sotomayor would keep this commitment, I cannot support her nomination." - - - -  CNN

Umm...yeah whatever dude. Go call up your buddies Roberts and Scalia and ask them about separation of impulses and preferences!

Obama Signs Ledbetter Act Into Law: Women Cheer!

Do ya think some of the carping from certain entitled women will forever be silenced now that #44's first legislative signature is for a step towards compensation equality? Probably not, but they'll look a little more ridiculous in the future. I received an email from Kristen @ MomRising with this photo of her and Lilly Ledbetter at the White House this morning: 

"Passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act reverses a bad U.S. Supreme Court decision that made it impossible to win pay descrimination cases that were filed after 180 days of the pay being set--an important fix to a critical problem, but it doesn't solve the entire problem of unfair pay practices. We have a long way to go."

We can send a thanks to the members of Congress that supported this legislation, overturning the obstacles presented by the Bush Administration, Republicans and a rather partisan Supreme Court. The President and First Lady both addressed this landmark moment.

"Making our economy work means making sure it works for everyone," Obama said. "That there are no second-class citizens in our workplaces, and that it's not just unfair and illegal — but bad for business — to pay someone less because of their gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion or disability."  Source

First Lady Michelle Obama, in a separate reception with Ledbetter in the State Dining Room, praised her courage and principles. "She knew unfairness when she saw it, and was willing to do something about it because it was the right thing to do — plain and simple," Mrs. Obama said.  Source

Remember it was John McCain, a man who lives off the wealth of his wife, said women didn't need equal pay they needed more "education". Of course who's going to be paying for that education was never addressed. For women who never marry their earning power is directly tied to what Social Security and other retirement benefits they may (or may not) receive should they not be able to claim a spouse's earnings. This is another benefit of marriage as legally defined in its current configuration and why same gender relationships will have to be reevaluated. Black women will be especially hit hard should they face retirement on reduced earnings (somewhere in the 55-62 cents range per every dollar earned by a white male), with no spousal compensation and having spent a lot of their resources caring for others. 

White House photos from Reuters & AP

Supremes Say Yes To Illegally Obtained Evidence

The Constitution was always a flawed document inasmuch as the architects were guilty of major double-standards in drafting it. It works in theory however - and it's supposedly the jewel in the crown of the making of a nation. Now we know this country was built on murder and mayhem but we were supposed to aspire to attain greatness despite that. Like I said - in theory. So now the Supreme Court delivers yet another blow to the idea of ascendancy by revealing the reality of its application. How low can we go? Apparently there is an even deeper bottom. Now perhaps some lawyers would like to weigh in on this, but doesn't this mean false evidence used to prosecute people has been legitimized? Now I know the Law & Order series is a nice scrubbing of the actual corruption of law enforcement (which is only as good as its participants). Dick Wolf really goes out of his way to show a fair and balanced Police Department and District Attorneys Office.  So now what? More death row inmates being tried and found guilty for crimes they haven't committed? Doctored DNA? Where does this end? If police don't get search warrants or have just cause for their actions (thereby shooting more innocents) how far will this spiral downward?

Photo: AP