The Goat Pen

In 2001, Sonia Sotomayor, an appeals court judge, gave a speech declaring that the ethnicity and sex of a judge “may and will make a difference in our judging.”

In her speech, Judge Sotomayor questioned the famous notion — often invoked by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her retired Supreme Court colleague, Sandra Day O’Connor — that a wise old man and a wise old woman would reach the same conclusion when deciding cases.

“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,” said Judge Sotomayor, who is now considered to be near the top of President Obama’s list of potential Supreme Court nominees.

Her remarks, at the annual Judge Mario G. Olmos Law and Cultural Diversity Lecture at the University of California, Berkeley, were not the only instance in which she has publicly described her view of judging in terms that could provoke sharp questioning in a confirmation hearing.

This month, for example, a video surfaced of Judge Sotomayor asserting in 2005 that a “court of appeals is where policy is made.” She then immediately adds: “And I know — I know this is on tape, and I should never say that because we don’t make law. I know. O.K. I know. I’m not promoting it. I’m not advocating it. I’m — you know.”

She's not lying. We all are simply sums of our experience. As a result, it's foolish to think Scalia's faith didn't influence his positions, Clarence Thomas' treatment at Yale didn't influence his and Benjamin Cardozo's Judaism didn't influence him.

Legal opinion is interpretation. Interpretation is not science. Of course your experiences impact it.

Pain or damage don't end the world. Or despair or fucking beatings. The world ends when you're dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man... and give some back.

"Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must." - Thucydides

Ah, the good old days:

"Another example of how the want for more money has allowed the "Soccer Mom" mentality to ruin a sport. Women don't like to see things like fights and hard hits, so the major sports , wanting their cash flow to increase, #$%$" out the games in order to sell to the women. I'm an O's fan, and if Machado doesn't want to get hit by a pitch, then he shouldn't stand there at home plate and crow about a wind blown back fly ball. Since the first game, the players have governed the sport. No one danced like a minstrel in an end zone because they new they would have their head removed the next offensive series. No one flipped bats or posed for home runs because they knew the next at bat would be painful. "Throwing at some one can cause an injury so it should be taken out of the game". Funny, hit someone in the face with your fist apparently can't hurt any one? Today, the fan in the stands cares more about the outcome of a game then the players. The players can fall back on their millions to soothe their hurt, while the fans are left with broken hearts and huge credit card bills for obscene ticket prices. Luckily, I grew up in the 60's and 70's when they still played baseball, football, and hockey. The days before women came to games, bought jerseys, and held game day parties in their households. Fathers took their sons and everyone in the stadium knew the players were playing for keeps."

Bklyn wrote:She's not lying. We all are simply sums of our experience. As a result, it's foolish to think Scalia's faith didn't influence his positions, Clarence Thomas' treatment at Yale didn't influence his and Benjamin Cardozo's Judaism didn't influence him.

Legal opinion is interpretation. Interpretation is not science. Of course your experiences impact it.

my problem is its racist for Trump to say that due to the cultural identity of a judge, there will be bias in his decision making

but a supreme court justice is lauded for admitting she is injecting cultural identity into her decisions.

this is exactly why Trump is pulling in the masses he is - and its not just white America. There are too many people who don't see the hypocrisy of cultural identity and racism. There are too many people that can't differentiate nationalism and racism and there are too many people that profess to hate what they in reality are.

When I see Latino's ganging up on a white woman and throw eggs at her, taunting her, cursing her, because she had the audacity to attend a Trump rally, all the while they are waving Mexican flags?
Then I hear the latino mayor blame Trump for the actions of the crowd?

THROW THOSE MOTHERFUCKERS OUT OF THIS COUNTRY

Y

ventura and Mendoza have been through this before

ventura and bautista have been through this before

ventrua and lawrie

ventura and abreau

KC batter were hit by more pitches then anyone in the league last year

ventura is our goon

You mean punk. We all have them.

2 student athletes, at two prestigious universities, approx same age, committed same crime....punishments..umm.. don't match (maybe a tie/no tie issue?)

Never wear pink to court.

Who's the black guy? Is it someone famous?

Barry Bonds

rape of an unconscious person

#1 overall pick 2015 NFL draft

Michael Jordan?

Black guy is Corey Batey, formerly of the Vanderbilt Commodores.

So now he plays for Tennessee?

so I looked up the story with Batey, not quite the same

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A former football player at Vanderbilt University was found guilty Friday night of raping an unconscious student in a dorm room, an attack that was photographed and videotaped by teammates, according to testimony. One of the players sent video of the assault to friends as it was happening.

At a time of intense scrutiny of the issue of campus sexual assault nationally, with federal civil rights investigations related to sexual violence underway at more than 160 colleges across the country, along with countless prevention and awareness efforts, the Vanderbilt case came to symbolize some of the worst horrors of hard-partying campus culture, the dangers of excessive drinking and the importance of bystander intervention.

Four former football players were charged with rape and violations of the student, but only one was on trial this week. After a week of testimony, the jury took less than three hours to find Cory Batey, 22, of Nashville, guilty of aggravated rape, two counts of attempted aggravated rape, facilitation of aggravated rape and three counts of aggravated sexual battery, the Associated Press reported.

The victim in the case, now studying for her doctorate in neuroscience elsewhere, was a senior at Vanderbilt in June 2013. She said at the trial that she had been dating Brandon Vandenburg, another of the four men charged in the case, for two weeks and that the last thing she remembered of that night was him giving her drinks at a bar.

Prosecutors told jurors that the woman was raped in the dorm room in a 32-minute attack that ended with Batey urinating on her and that she was then taken out into a hallway and left there like trash.

Not much black/white as rich daddy/poor daddy.

"guilty of aggravated rape, two counts of attempted aggravated rape, facilitation of aggravated rape and three counts of aggravated sexual battery"

Not sure I get all the charges. Isn't rape enough?