Equality under the law won over judicial empathy today. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a group of men in New Haven Connecticut who worked hard to earn promotions according to the rules set forth by their employer and were then denied said promotions because of race. Not much of a news making story except for the fact that the men discriminated against are white. And the decision the high court overturned in their ruling was made, in part, by current Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. And the decision was based on the rule of law not President Obama's preferred criteria of empathy for the litigants.

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Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor has resigned from the elite all-women's club The Belizean Grove. She said she resigned to prevent her membership in the club from distracting anyone from her qualifications and record. She also said that her membership did not violate judicial ethics. Federal judges are bound by a code that says they shouldn't join any organization that discriminates by race, sex, religion or nationality. (source) Judge Sotomayor claims that The Belizean Grove does not do that. So why resign?

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By now everyone has heard Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor's infamous quote from a 2001 speech she gave at the law school of the University of California, Berkeley:

"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," (source)

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Whenever any US President nominates a prospective Supreme Court Justice, a legislative process begins by which the Senate holds a confirmation hearing (see Article II, Section 2 of the US Constitution). Yet because the Senate (including its minority Republican members) is currently preparing for Judge Sonia Sotomayor's hearing, the media would have us believe this will be a unique and highly combative event.

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