Day 1: Judge Sonia Sotomayor Confirmation Hearings

Published July 13, 2009 @ 04:20PM PT

Today was the first day of the confirmation hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor.

I got rather annoyed by all the sports metaphors used to clarify how qualified she is for the job, but I can't totally knock the American Constitution Society for trying to make Supreme Court hearings interesting to the masses.

Still, I have to agree with my friend Nisha Chittal who commented that the overdose of baseball allusions might be connected to the fact that 80% of the Senate is made up of men. From the SCOTUS Blog:

An (incomplete) review of the senators' written statements and oral testimony finds the phrase "balls and strikes" used 11 times, "umpire" or "umpires" used 16 times, and "playing field" used twice today. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Tex., perhaps appealing to his Big 12 base, went for a football simile instead.

I'd really like to see these Senators actually level the playing field when it comes to women vs. men on the high court before leveraging their knowledge of men's sports during the confirmation of SCOTUS' first Latina member. But then of course, bringing gender into the equation is a "no-no" according to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) who was slightly offended when Sotomayor suggested that "a wise Latina woman could make a better decision than a white man."

Who knew that Graham was so sensitive to gender? The NYT Caucus Blog expands on his sentiments during the hearings:

While Senator Graham obviously spouted some of the most amusing one-liners in his statement, we've been sitting here debating whether he would have said to a man: "unless you have a meltdown, you're gonna get confirmed." Just asking. Or would someone address a male judge by saying, "Unless you lose it, or blow a gasket?" Is meltdown gender-specific?

Even with this seemingly astute observation by the New York Times of the obvious gender stereotyping , the NYT writers tripped over their own gender neutrality when they went ahead and not only live-blogged the happenings of the hearing, but also the outfits of the female attendees in shockingly smug detail:

Still nursing a broken ankle, Ms. Sotomayor wore a cobalt blue pants suit, a color often worn by Hillary Rodham Clinton.

It's as if the mainstream media almost knew what it was doing when it came to being feminist friendly, and then promptly forgot whilst caught in the "glare" of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's outfit:

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, clad in a satin brocade suit that practically casts a glare around her on television, reminds the panel that when Sandra Day O'Connor was selected, the first woman justice talked about how it had taken more than 100 years to reach that ceiling.

The partisan bickering is expected, but the bizarre gender laced judgments by the politicians and the mainstream media are always shocking to me. But hey - it's a woman with last name that requires you to roll your "r's" - we all knew that Sotomayor was going to be a challenge to the patriarchy from Day 1.

I'm glad to have the first day behind us, however, I can only wonder what the next week of hearings will bring. I am most hopeful that at the end of this circus, we will have Judge Sonia Sotomayor confirmed to be the next member of the Supreme Court! For the most gender neutral coverage, I'd be sure to stay tuned into CSPAN for updates over the week.

Photo credit: Doug Mills/The New York Times

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Comments (20)

Regressives' questions always go into the sewer and emerge with that scent and and charactor. Our constitution does not give a bit of support for gut-twisting or any other harrassment The senate could abolish this travesty as quickly an they established it a few years ago.

Posted by Harmon Chamberlin on 07/13/2009 @ 05:49PM PT
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Is there actually anyone Who thinks C Span is neutral on anything?

Posted by Charlie Reed on 07/13/2009 @ 06:01PM PT
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Emily Dickinson once wrote, "Tell the truth but tell it slant." News organizations will never be free of this very human trend. We see things through different eyes.

Posted by Jesse Demonbreun on 07/14/2009 @ 10:54AM PT
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The Grand Old Pigs will always have something to squeal about. I think she'll do fine.

Posted by L.S. hope on 07/13/2009 @ 11:35PM PT
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Name-calling is trite. Just to be fair.

Posted by Jesse Demonbreun on 07/14/2009 @ 11:44AM PT
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I doubt the Republicans even want to stop Her. It is their job to voice the negatives. They seem to be doing it in a most lackluster way, just going through the motions. If They ever want to get back in office They can't behave in the disgraceful way Democrats did with Republican candidates, not only is it beneath Them, the press would actually report it this time.

Posted by Charlie Reed on 07/14/2009 @ 05:00AM PT
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Granted, what you're saying about the media coverage is correct... but the comment they grill her for is a very powerful one.

"a wise Latina woman could make a better decision than a white man."

consider the reflective:

"a wise White man could make a better decision than a minority woman"

Anyway, I've found that NPR had pretty good coverage of Sotomayor for a while now. They've gone in an discussed her record in detail. The New Haven firefighter case is just about the only "telling" thing on her record. Otherwise, she's got a pretty uneventful history of judgements.

In my opinion, giving her the job because she's a latino woman is just as wrong as not giving her the job because she's a latino woman. We should give her the job based on her qualifications.

I think the point about a meltdown is absolutely relavant. If she can show stability and good judgement during a time when she's facing seemingly unfair attacks and attention, it's definitely going to reinforce, in my mind, her ability to the job at hand.

I think she'll probably be alright.

Posted by I C on 07/14/2009 @ 08:45AM PT
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Scott, I also believe she'll a fiiting replacement for a liberal justice. The republicans are just doing what is expected of Them. Can You imagine if They just rolled over like the Dumbocrats want? Wow! would that be a press explosion!

Posted by Charlie Reed on 07/14/2009 @ 09:13AM PT
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Dumbocrats? Charming.

Posted by Jesse Demonbreun on 07/14/2009 @ 10:54AM PT
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Jesse,That's just a little LOL resonse to L.S.s' "grand ole pigs". Funny You had no comment to that Jesse. LOL

Posted by Charlie Reed on 07/14/2009 @ 11:17AM PT
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I missed it. I've never heard that as another name for the GOP. I've never heard Dumbocrats either but it was hard to miss.

Overall, I think that the name-calling is petty and trite all together - "Grand Ole Pigs" included.

Posted by Jesse Demonbreun on 07/14/2009 @ 11:43AM PT
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Hey, is there something wrong with petty and trite?

Naw, I'm just kidding. ;)

Posted by I C on 07/14/2009 @ 03:36PM PT
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Jesse, believe Me, I do too. That was the very first time I did it on this site. I hope I don't make it a habit.

Posted by Charlie Reed on 07/14/2009 @ 12:19PM PT
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Me neither - there's just something about commenting to a computer that allows us to say things we wouldn't normally say - myself included.

Posted by Jesse Demonbreun on 07/14/2009 @ 02:50PM PT
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I would have to give L.S. a pass also. This thing gives us hornd sometimes!

Posted by Charlie Reed on 07/14/2009 @ 04:35PM PT
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All of these things aside, sports metaphors as an intentional or accidental way to marginalize women takes me back to Intro to Women's Studies. This concept seems so basic, it's hard to remember that it is still an issue (in the same league as issues in language - policeMEN, congressMEN, etc).

It's always good to be reminded of these trends. Until we can mentally extract these thoughts and subtle forms of sexism - they will never go away.

Bravo for the brave souls who brought up this issue in the face of almost certain criticism for focusing on meaningless minutia!

Posted by Jesse Demonbreun on 07/14/2009 @ 07:32PM PT
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What came across to me while reading this is that unless you are one of the people on the receiving end of the sentiment (i.e. a woman being challenged to NOT meltdown in order to prove her stability as a prerequisite for a job) you won't know exactly how hard the comments really do hit.

The point being that as much as people think being PC is extreme, it is important to understand how certain stereotypes have permeated our collective consciousness, and things we just rattle off our tongues can be very hurtful without us even knowing it.

Personally, I'm horrified at the idea of "the meltdown" as a litmus.

Posted by Lisa Smolen on 07/15/2009 @ 07:01AM PT
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I am too as its very small minded of those who partake of the "good ol' boys" way of thinking while ignoring the fact that such ways of thinking are becomming more and more outdated as well it should.

Posted by Reverend Boony on 07/15/2009 @ 01:53PM PT
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You know...Its ironic that theyre wanting to use sports metaphors as a "man thing" when 1 : I know some women who are into football, golf and/or tennis...AND 2 : As a man, I neither like nor understand sports at all.

As for the male chauvinistic terms being used to refer to not just miss sotomayor but any woman looking to rise to the top...Well, lets just say that even though Im a man, Ive had a few meltdowns myself over the last 10 or 20 years...Ironic indeed.

Posted by Reverend Boony on 07/15/2009 @ 01:50PM PT
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Great comments everyone - love the discussion here. Keep it up!

Posted by Jen Nedeau on 07/16/2009 @ 09:17AM PT
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Jen Nedeau is a social media consultant, progressive activist, feminist speaker and writer. She currently lives in New York City, where she works full-time as the Director of Digital Strategy at Air America Media. Additionally, Nedeau volunteers as the Chief Technology Officer for New Leaders Council, a non-profit that offers exclusive training for young leaders. You can follow her on Twitter @HumanFolly or learn more here: www.jennedeau.com.