Poor Put-Upon White Men

So there's all this nonsense around Sonja Sotomayor, where the implication is roughly that white men are more capable of objectivity than women or people of color. But all people bring their past experience to current decisions.

All white male courts saw no problem with separate but equal (Plessy v. Fergueson), or denying suffrage to female US citizens (Minor v. Happersett), or returning a black man (Dred Scott) to slavery. Those were reflections of the white male values of the time. They put those values into their reading of the constitution. The notion that white men are somehow better able to rise above race or gender is, itself, racist. (Some pulled from here.)

Today is no different. White males still have overwhelming majorities in most of the power structure of this country. White males are also far more likely to oppose affirmative action, quotas, or gender/race based decisions because they will be adversely affected. But without those very quotas, without decisions made to force more balance and equality at the most influential levels, things will not change beyond a glacial pace (use the metaphor while we still can). Minorities will continue to see themselves (realistically) as locked out of power, and having to depend on the magnanimous white male.

And what we are seeing now is an effort to change things in that direction is being met by hard resistance by those in power. The vileness of the notion that Sotomayor got where she is today only because of her race is real, and not even hidden by the people opposing her nomination. For white male Alito to reference his background as the child of immigrants was a good thing, for Sonja it is racist. That is racism.

A supreme court that consisted of 4-5 whites (no more than 3 of either gender) 1 Hispanic, 1 Black, 1 Asian, and 1-2 others (Middle Eastern, Native American, or a second of one of those mentioned), with the total court made up of a 4:5, or 5:4 men: women split and that also had at least one LGBT, one Muslim, one other non-Christian on it, would produce better, more equitable decisions. It would also produce decisions that would hold more significance to minority groups. Experience and background do matter, especially when it comes to governance.