Let her rulings speak

If you are new to our country and have tuned in to news coverage of Sonia Sotomayor, my condolences. You probably think the main task of Supreme Court justices is to deliver speeches. Your confusion is understandable given the intense focus on the nominee’s oratory.

The Washington Post recently reviewed 84 of her trips to the lectern. The most controversial speech was delivered eight years ago in Berkeley, Calif., in which she said: “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”

That’s the line that caused Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh to call her a racist. Sotomayor has softened that stance. Gingrich has taken it back. Limbaugh wouldn’t know how. What caused the former leader of the Republicans to reverse course was a review of her court rulings.

This, dear newcomer, is what justices actually do.

Colorblind. You’re probably wondering why Sotomayor’s rulings weren’t the focus to begin with. Well, that requires expertise, and it can be time-consuming. Besides, it might not satisfy the media’s desire for instant conflict.

Fortunately, Tom Goldstein, a lawyer who runs Scotusblog (a blog about the Supreme Court), has reviewed all of Sotomayor’s race-related decisions as an appellate court panelist. There were 97 cases, but you’ve probably only heard of one of them – the white firefighters in Connecticut who charged the city with discrimination. In the rest of the rulings, Sotomayor routinely joined her white colleagues in rejecting discrimination claims. Not much evidence of that dreaded empathy there.

Goldstein concluded that if critics are worried that she will color her race-based decisions, they can relax.

Trivial pursuit. Did you ever notice that Andy Rooney is still alive? I did recently. Not sure why I thought he wasn’t. Maybe it’s because he always seemed frail, and I haven’t watched him in ages. Maybe it’s because he’s 90. Have you ever thought a person was dead and they weren’t?

Not only is Rooney alive, he’s still commenting for “60 Minutes.” I find this astounding. Must be something about mundane musings that keeps him employed. Hey, I like working, so:

Writing in cursive is a lost art. So is changing a typewriter ribbon.

If the human body shrinks as we get older, why does it seem like my feet are getting farther away when I tie my shoes?

Did you ever notice that all of the days of the week end in “y”? This really jumps out at you if you write them in cursive.