For anyone who believes there’s no double-standard with regard to liberals versus conservatives, here’s an exercise in creative thinking:

What Supreme Court nominee Sonya Sotomayor said with respect to laws regarding race and sexual discrimination: “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.”

Ok, here we go: imagine a white, conservative male nominated for the court, take the above statement and flip just two phrases. This is what you get: “I would hope that a wise white male with the richness of his experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a Latina woman who hasn’t lived that life.”

Is there a single mainstream media outlet that wouldn’t be calling this racist? Is there a single liberal who wouldn’t be demanding such an “obviously biased” individual have his name removed from consideration for the highest court in the land?

Mere hyperbole, and not indicative of Sotomayor’s “distinguished career” or “real feelings?”

Exercise number two: New Haven Connecticut gave a firefighter’s exam with the idea of promoting more minorities to lieutenant and captain positions in the fire department. A white firefighter with a learning disability studied long and hard to pass that test and did, along with 18 of his white colleagues. Yet, because only one Hispanic and no blacks passed the test, the city decided to scrap the results. The 19 white firefighters sued citing “discrimination.”

A blatant example of race being the ultimate criterion for promotion? Not according to Appeals Court Judge Sotomayor, who upheld a lower court ruling tossing the case. It is now before the Supreme Court.

Here we go again: Imagine the same exam, but this time a substantial number of blacks and Hispanics pass, and only one white and no Asians can make the grade. Imagine New Haven tosses the test, citing the very same “disproportionately low scores,” for those ethnicities. Black and Hispanic firefighters sue, citing discrimination.

Does anyone honestly believe, even for a nano-second, that New Haven would have tossed the test based on whites and Asians receiving “disproportionately low scores,” as they did in the current case? How about the idea an Appeals Court with Sonya Sotomayor on it would uphold a lower court ruling dismissing a discrimination suit brought by blacks and Hispanics?

Next, let’s take the current shenanigans being orchestrated by the mainstream media and the White House with regard to Sotomayor’s nomination. The media, in a pile-on as obvious as their bias, is warning Republicans that any resistance to Sotomayor’s nomination will “permanently alienate” their relationship with Hispanics. The White House is warning Republican members of the Senate to be “exceedingly careful” with regard to her vetting.

Now imagine a white conservative… Wait a second. Forget white, and forget imagining. Try remembering the confirmation process of a conservative black, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. For the life of me, I can’t recall a mainstream media pile-on warning Democrats that any resistance to his nomination would “completely alienate” any possible relationship between black Americans and the Democratic Party. I can’t remember the Republican White House warning Democratic Senators to be “exceedingly careful” with regard to his vetting.

But I can remember liberals calling Thomas a “race traitor” and an “Uncle Tom.” I remember liberal magazine Emerge depicting Thomas as a lawn jockey on its cover. I remember columnist Julianne Malveaux saying, “I hope his wife feeds (Thomas) lots of eggs and butter and he dies early, like many black men do.” And I remember Democrats on the Senate nomination committee doing their absolute best to derail the nomination by any means necessary, including a trumped up sexual harassment charge by former employee Anita Hill that couldn’t pass the smell test.

Does anyone seriously believe Sonya Sotomayor will be subjected to anything remotely resembling such “enlightened” behavior?

One last thing: a genuine system of justice is based on a very simple idea: if two cases with an identical set of parameters come before a court in this country, the rule of law implies that the outcome of both should be identical as well. That most Americans intuitively know this is not the case is a damning indictment of those who believe justice is not so much a matter of law as a “superior” wisdom which, according to Sonya Sotomayor, accrues from the “proper” ethnic or gender-based experience one brings to the bench.

Republicans may not be able to derail her nomination. But they owe the nation a thorough vetting of a candidate who, were she on the other side of the ideological divide, would be “Borked” like there’s no tomorrow–by the very same people who claim there’s no double-standard with regard to ideology.

atahlert@comcast.net

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