Newt Gingrich is Wrong--Sotomayor's No Racist, She's Sam Alito of the Left

By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

I disagree with Newt Gingrich.

Judge Sonia Sotomayor's expressed belief that as a Latina who grew up in the public housing projects of New York City, she hopes she makes wiser judgments that the average white guy on the federal bench is far from a disqualifying factor—it is pretty much the best thing she has going for her.

Take away the South Bronx and what do you get: a studious Catholic baby boomer who enlisted in the meritocracy, graduated from prestigious Ivy League schools (Princeton, Yale Law) and served as a federal judge, showing considerable competence, and zero signs of legal artistry or intellectual genius.

Sounds like Sam Alito to me.

Indeed, I fear that the next 80 days will be a dreary re-run of the Alito hearings, but with Republicans and Democrats swapping roles. We will hear the familiar clichés, the tired rhetoric, the sarcastic questions, the divisive pandering to the base.

Just one more twilight struggle of the Culture Wars.

How mundane. How undeserving of a great nation, and a great Constitution. What little audacity.

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