How does a Supreme Court justice AVOID bringing his/her race, gender or upbringing

[secondwind]

to a case before him/her?

Tell me please! HOW can that happen?

[NJmaverick]

1. ...

[Empowerer]

2. You really don't understand, do you?

White men are the norm. They don't need to use "empathy" because it is not only perfectly normal, but the right way of the world, for them to view everything in exactly the right way. Because they are white men. They are the "people."

It is those pesky minorities and women who are messing everything up by having the nerve to consider the possibility that they might see things differently than white men - and if they do happen to view things in any different way, it is THEIR perspective that is skewed, off-kilter and highly suspect.

That's why it is perfectly acceptable for a white male nominee to go on and on about how his Italian heritage influences the way he thinks, since, after all, that is still "white." But the minute a minority or a woman suggests that THEIR heritage might have an impact on how they think, that raises the possibility that this might actually mean lessening the advantage that white men have always had and many continue to expect and tip the scale, even ever so slightly, toward an even balance that, in these people's view, means disadvantaging white men. THAT is unacceptable.

Now you know.

[ejpoeta]

4. exactly!

[spooky3]

5. well said, plus

Sotomayor's point - and she was discussing ONLY cases of race and sex etc. discrimination (see Mediamatters.org) - is that if you have experienced discrimination in your life, you will likely have a different and richer experience from which to judge race and sex etc. discrimination than will someone who has not had such experiences (or may have been the unknowing beneficiary of unfair discrimination). She also said that people who haven't been adversely affected by disc. CAN with effort understand and make good judgments and she gave examples of those people.

What a radical idea - that experience with something helps improve judgment.

[LiberalFighter]

8. And if one were to imply that their Italian background would be connected to the Mafia

then they would be crying foul.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

10. well stated

[ejpoeta]

3. well, when it's alito or scalia or one of the republican ones... then it's fine.

it's only when the person is a woman and a woman minority who are democrat.

[rurallib]

6. Soon someone will ask if a computer program can be written

which will allow enough inputs to make it feasible to get the info on a case. Then said program can evaluate data against the words in the law or the constitution and VOILA tue blind justice (sarcasm for the humor impaired)

[LiberalFighter]

7. Isn't that why county level judges are elected/appointed? At least because of their upbringing?

Don't some of those judges make a point of getting it out to the voters that they are christians and will be hard on criminals? Don't some make it a point to challenge federal court rulings?

[BlooInBloo]

9. The only people I see "bringing their race" into it are white folks.

[Karenina]

11. Justice Alito: June 10, 2006

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x452316

[Doctor_J]

12. The wingers think that only white men are completely unbiased

women and people of color always bring a lot of baggage, mostly of the socialist/activist kind. The fact that they are told this crap by white men doesn't seem to dawn nn them at all.

Billo the clown last year said it out loud - "This country is being taken away from White Christian Males".

[Mass]

13. By being a white male?

As we all know, white males do not have any agenda.

[Enrique]

15. exactly

white males are normal people, they don't have a race or gender.

[EFerrari]

14. Exactly.