[Grovenet] From Politico . . .

[David Morelli]

<quote>

The following is [excerpted from] the text of the Judge Mario G.  
Olmos Memorial Lecture in 2001, delivered at the University of  
California, Berkeley, School of Law, by appeals court judge Sonia  
Sotomayor.

...

Justice O'Connor has often been cited as saying that a wise old man  
and wise old woman will reach the same conclusion in deciding cases.  
I am not so sure Justice O'Connor is the author of that line ... I am  
also not so sure that I agree with the statement. First, ..., there  
can never be a universal definition of wise. Second, 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.

Let us not forget that wise men like Oliver Wendell Holmes and  
Justice Cardozo voted on cases which upheld both sex and race  
discrimination in our society. Until 1972, no Supreme Court case ever  
upheld the claim of a woman in a gender discrimination case.

...

As reported by Judge Patricia Wald formerly of the D.C. Circuit  
Court, three women on the Minnesota Court with two men dissenting  
agreed to grant a protective order against a father's visitation  
rights when the father abused his child.

...

  She [Judge Cedarbaum] rightly points out that the perception of the  
differences between men and women is what led to many paternalistic  
laws and to the denial to women of the right to vote because we were  
described then "as not capable of reasoning or thinking logically"  
but instead of "acting intuitively." I am quoting adjectives that  
were bandied around famously during the suffragettes' movement.

...

Personal experiences affect the facts that judges choose to see.

...

There are still nearly 37 district courts with no women judges at all.

...

No African-American, male or female, sits today on the Fourth or  
Federal circuits. And no Hispanics, male or female, sit on the  
Fourth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, District of Columbia or Federal  
Circuits.

...

In at least the last five years the majority of nominated judges the  
Senate delayed more than one year before confirming or never  
confirming were women or minorities.

...

</quote>

from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/us/politics/15judge.text.html

**************************
Personal experiences affect the facts that each of us choose to see.

The United States invaded Iraq because the Administration could "see"  
a threat from weapons of mass destruction.
Today, their supporters can "see" that we invaded Iraq to secure  
Democracy in that country.
Conservative commentators can "see" that President Obama is a Socialist.
I don't "see" any of that, because I have different personal  
experiences.

David