The newest U.S. Supreme Court Justice had been rumored to have excessively liberal views on immigration, but is this true?
The recent confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court was a politically-charged test to the Obama Administration’s influence. Her confirmation was soundly approved – but along partisan lines.Conservative bloggers had decried the idea of a Hispanic woman being appointed, while interest groups often uttered misrepresentations concerning Ms. Sotomayor’s positions, especially those concerned with immigration issues. But what were her views on immigration as legislated from the Appeals Court bench?
Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Judiciary’s immigration subcommittee, assigned his staff to analyze how Ms. Sotomayor voted in 955 immigration cases in which she participated during her judicial career, with a special focus on cases that involved foreigners trying to win asylum claims in order to remain in the United States. The Schumer-led inquiry led to some intriguing results. Of the 848 asylum cases in which Sotomayor has taken part, she sided with the foreigner over the government in 144 of them, or 17% of the cases. That percentage was virtually identical to that of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, of which she was a member, during the two-year window studied. Such a percentage, though significant, was not excessive, and well within the judicial mainstream.
While the idea that the recent election of Barack Obama has triggered a “post-racial” United States is greatly exaggerated beneath an avalanche of media hype, the idea that Sonia Sotomayor is racially biased due in large measure to her ethnicity and gender is blatant hyperbole, a sort of pandering to those who would send America back to their own brand of intolerance. Still, where are we now in a 2009 still-racialized nation?
Persistent inequalities exist in a so-called multi-cultural society, euphemisms such as “hate crimes” destroy lives and children of various “people of color” heritages including denizens from various Latin American cultures attend substandard and underfinanced schools within a thousand urbanized ghettos.
The Republican-right wing sees none of this in their fantasia version of America. Listening to right-wing voices during the Sotomayor nominating process was reminiscent of talk radio “hate jocks” spewing a stream of fixed ideology rhetoric, whether it happened to be expressed in the manner of Tom Tancredo, Rush Limbaugh, or Newt Gingrich. Judge Sotomayor’s mistake, in their view, was that she affirmed her social experience as a “Latina” woman. But in their respective opinions, affirming any kind of fair-mindedness in real terms is the gravest sin of all.
A. Banerjee is a Houston immigration lawyer in Texas. Before selecting an immigration lawyer in Houston Texas, contact the Law Offices of Annie Banerjee or to learn more about Houston immigration lawyer, immigration lawyer in Houston, Houston immigration attorney, visit their information filled web site at Visatous.com.
