Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama is leading the Republican charge against the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. To hear him and other Republicans tell it, Sotomayor is a racist and practically an anarchist who will single-handedly destroy the American justice system; in actuality, she’s been a very respected, center-left judge who has often disappointed the liberals she is supposedly leading in her march toward some kind of communist judicial revolution.
What hasn’t received nearly enough attention, however, is Sessions’ own history. Sotomayor may not be a racist, but Sessions certainly seems to be. Sessions was nominated for a federal judgeship in the 1980s by Pres. Reagan, but he was rejected by the Senate Judiciary Committee for “a pattern of racial insensitivity.” And that was putting it mildly. During testimony at Sessions’ hearing, it was revealed that he believed the NAACP was “Communist-inspired” and had “forced civil rights down the throats of people.” Other choice Sessions quotes include the time he said he “used to think they [the Klan] were OK until I found out some of them were pot smokers”; and he called a white civil rights lawyer “a disgrace to his race.” In the past decade, Sessions has become known as the Senate’s most staunch advocate for restricting Latino immigration to the U.S., which political insiders have said makes him an odd choice – and a particularly dangerous one for the GOP – to head the opposition to Sotomayor. Sessions’ past statements may be water under the bridge, but they’re real nonetheless. It would pay to keep this man’s own racist past in mind this week as he tries to tear down the character of someone who happens to disagree with him politically.
This article appears in Jul 14-21, 2009.
If you bothered to do your research you would know that Sen. Sessions talked about his past and that is why he IS NOT calling her RACIST. Judge Sotomayor did make the comment about being smarter than old white men.She also said if it wasn’t for affirmative action she wouldn’t be where she is now because her grades weren’t good enough. You know it is sad that she didn’t get where she is because she is a good judge but because of affirmative action. Sad…..so very sad.
Sen. Sessions race-baiting is one that we all should take note of and condemn. As it seems in his case, water always returns to its level. Session will never change”and thank God he never succeeded in getting to the bench. The problem with those who shout bias against others is that they are unable to see the “plank” in their own eyes. Sessions is informed by racial prejudice. How can he as “Ranking Member” of the Senate Judiacy Committee resist not allowing his ideological and cultural experiences to influence his questioning of Judge Sotomayor? When he says he wants judges who are “neutral,” what he really means is that he wants judges who would agree with his world view that views women, ethnics and other minorities as less equal than others no matter their accomplishments and even not desirable. His attacks have focused on a narrow frame, ignoring empirical evidence of balance that can easily be derived from Judge Sotomayor’s actual decisions in court. He chose to forget or ignore what other sitting US Supreme Court justices (Scalia, Alitio, for example) appointed by Republican Presidents said about the influence of culture and experience during their confirmation hearings. Republicans must be reminded that on the issue of “empathy” President George H.W. Bush said about the same thing as Obama-referencing its relevance. Wisdom tells us that it is; ideological demagogoury says otherwise. On this, we must be continously reminded of the famous adage that “justice must be tempered with mercy.”