Unit D - Blog 22

After reading about Sonia Sotomayor, I am very surprised that I had no prior knowledge of who she was. I am not a big news guy, but still can’t believe I have no background knowledge of this woman. The main reason I am so surprised is the way she is represented in the media. Several articles on Sotomayor refer to her status as celebrity like. Obviously she is going to receive added attention as she is only the third woman to have a chair on the Supreme Court. O’Connor had the same type of effect on the public and media for being the first, just like many other diverse individuals who were amongst the first.

Sotomayor also brought a lot extra added attention with some of her statements such as, “I want to up front, unequivocally and without doubt, I do not believe that any ethnic, racial or gender group has an advantage in sound judging.” She also said during a speech the she her cause is “to inspire young Hispanics, Latino students and lawyers to believe that their life experiences added value to the process” referring to the process of joining the Supreme Court. One other phrase during her early career on the Supreme Court included “wise Latina.” All these statements opened up talk for the media and many of them exploited the remarks. In my opinion, she will be questioned on her rulings because of her diversity. However, many of the current judges get questioned on if they have a bias for race and gender. It will happen no matter if it’s a male, female, white, black, Hispanic, etc. That is how our structure has been socialized. The system has never had anything but white males, and now that it has changed, society acknowledges those differences and they will be questioned on topics of this magnitude. Is it right? No. But that is the way it has played out. Sotomayor has not gone back on her comments and I think she will stick to her words. If she remains strong to her words, she won’t be able to be questioned.

Other areas of the material that I researched did have a lot of gender and race implications. I read an article from Latina magazine that emphasized Latino affiliations such as the types of food she cooks and types of earrings that Latina’s are known to wear. This article also scoped in on cooking and fashion while telling her story. More news type magazines made several gendered statements that included stereotypes. One statement said, “Women appreciate collaboration and negotiation, we’ve had to learn to negotiate just to run our families.’’ Another stated, “Men take too many risks, they’re too aggressive, there’s not enough concern about families.’’ These are some of the implications that the media is saying will affect her judging ability.

Overall, the media will continue to stay current with her because it is something our society has seen very little of, a women in the Supreme Court, and a Hispanic one at that. Sotomayor refuses to do interviews with the media, which will help prevent more exploitation. If she stands true to her bold statement as a new Supreme Court Chair, then she will prove that it’s not about gender or race, it’s about justice.