When Sonia Sotomayor was appointed as a Justice for the US Supreme Court her qualifications were questioned. She was questioned because her gender, race, and religion are factors that weighed into her questioned qualifications. As a Catholic, Puerto Rican, woman, her high status in the Supreme Court caused controversy. She graduated from Princeton University and attended the Yale Law School. In the history of the Supreme Court there have only been three women and she is the first Hispanic to serve. According to a story on CNN, when Sotomayor took her oath it was the first time a ceremony of this nature was televised. This is important to note because she was put in the spot light more than any other appointed judge of the Supreme Court.
She has been criticized for being racist because she embraces her heritage and she understands what women, especially Hispanic women encounter, and she uses her experience to aid her in her position. She has been evaluated on a totally different level than her male counterparts because of her gender and race. I think this evaluation has to do with our governmental changes. Previously our country has been run by white males, and many of our justices have been predominately white males. However, now we have the first president who is not white and he appointed the first Hispanic Justice. Overall, many of the comments made about her seem to have no relevance. Such as she is racist because her experience being different from that of white males, and she is “not smart”, however she graduated from two qualified schools and she would not have been appointed in the first place if those accusations were true. Sonia is just faced with the notion that so far our country has been run by white males and now that a change has come, people feel threatened by it. I personally think that she is qualified for her position and that she could bring a new insight to certain issues and cases because she is a woman. However, the fact that she is a woman and Hispanic should have never become an issue in her qualifications.
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