Blog Post #22

Sonia Sotomayor was nominated for appointment to the US Supreme Court by President Barack Obama in May of 2009. Her nomination was confirmed by the US Senate in August of 2009. She is the first Hispanic justice, and the third female justice on the US Supreme Court. Unfortunately being a minority woman brings some level of discrimination, especially for a woman of such high power. Often people deal with her on the basis of stereotypes rather than her very impressive work record. People assume that because she is Hispanic and a woman that she is a Liberal. There is also an assumption that she may not be able to put aside her personal biases and use the law objectively. “Her personal biases” means that she will judge on the side of her ethnicity or gender. But no one assumes that a white male will not be able to put aside their own personal biases for their own race and gender. Some people have said that Sotomayor has a problematic temperament, as she is often referred to as a bully on the bench. White men are assumed to be rather cool headed in comparison to women or people of color. I would assume that those who consider Sotomayor to be a bully would not react in the same way if a white male judge acted in an aggressive or assertive manner, it may actually be welcomed. Those same people definitely would not hold a white man to the same expectations of temperament. One study done by PsychologyToday.com on students’ response to female Hispanic teachers versus white male teachers found that “students appeared to be receptive to Latina professors as long as they were lenient in their teaching style-flexible, indulgent, and compassionate. When Latina professors had strict teaching styles-stern, rigorous, and authoritarian--they penalized them relative to professors who were white men.” These students saw strict Latina teachers as bullies whereas they had a neutral view male teachers with the same “temperament.” It seems that people have a set of expectation about Hispanic women such as Sonia Sotomayor that can produce hostile responses if they are violated. She has also been criticized on her ability to relate intimately because she is a “workaholic.” No one would question a man’s ability to have an intimate relationship because he works too much.