Sotomayor and Spellman

President Obama’s nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court has unleashed, among other things, a cascade of emails into my computer from friends remarking on the similarities of our backgrounds. I, too, am a Newyorican who lived in a housing project. Mine was in Spanish Harlem, hers in the Bronx, and we both went to parochial schools. Our fathers passed away when we were young, and our mothers struggled to support our families. We also speak perfect unaccented English and are both Catholic.That about ends our similarities, but then all native New Yorkers of Puerto Rican heritage have varying experiences; and I am no more qualified to judge Judge Sotomayor than any other journalist. What I would hope is that judgment is suspended until the confirmation hearings, when Judge Sotomayor can answer directly questions on her judicial decisions.Right now, many conservative pundits are focusing remarks she is on record as having made, in 2001, at a speech at Berkeley, California, where she said: “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.” I’m not surprised that her Berkeley audience and many in the world of liberal academia would applaud Judge Sotomayor’s statement. It signifies their core beliefs.I do believe, however, that there are clues as to why the judge has elected to embrace the liberal side of the bench. In an earlier speech she said, “I have spent my years since Princeton, while at law school and in my various professional jobs, not feeling completely a part of the worlds I inhabit.” She said added that despite her accomplishments, “I am always looking over my shoulder wondering if I measure up.”It happens that I too have always felt a disconnect from the world of the high and mighty whenever I’ve been invited to attend fancy functions. I can imagine that it must have been difficult for a girl coming from humble beginnings in the Bronx to compete in the realm of the Ivy League. How much easier it must have been to accede to majority rule rather than to assert any conservative principles taught in a Catholic school.What I am wondering is whether, once she gets to the Supreme Court, she will be truly liberated from all of that. Certainly her record includes statements that are far more important and even encouraging. “I don’t believe we should bend the Constitution under any circumstance,” she said a decade ago in her Senate confirmation hearing. “It says what it says. We should do honor to it.”What more could we ask from a Supreme Court justice than total respect for the Constitution? If the question of abortion arises during the confirmation hearings, it will be interesting to hear how Judge Sotomayor addresses this issue. Is she a Scalia, Alito, Roberts, Thomas Catholic or a Pelosi, Kerrey, Biden, Kennedy Catholic? And does it matter? Even the pro-life members of the bench believe their job is not to impose religious law but to interpret the Constitution.But does the Constitution really prohibit the Congress or the state legislatures from regulating abortion? Does it really outlaw the Congress from weighing, when it considers abortion, the views of, say, Joseph Francis Cardinal Spellman, after whom the school Judge Sotomayor attended was named? If she has “never forgotten where she began,” as President Obama suggested, will those who educated her and embraced pro-life principles be recipients of, at least, her empathy?Cardinal Law, the chairman of the National Council of Catholic Bishops said, “Support for abortion is not an option for Catholics and the failure of many Catholics to challenge abortion politicians is a great concern.” Nor are Catholics alone. The latest surveys confirm that above 50% of the American people are now pro-life. Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton were decisions by activist judges who believed that the Constitution is adaptable. Is that what Judge Sotomayor believes? Or will Roe and Doe some day be seen as errors on the scale of Dred Scott?The United States Supreme Court Justices are there for life. If confirmed, Judge Sotomayor will be the first Hispanic on the bench and bring to six out of nine the number of Catholics. She will no longer have to look over her shoulder for assurance from liberal peers. Here is one Newyorican who hopes that maybe, just maybe, she will be able to give the Constitution and unborn Americans the honor they deserve.Ms. Colon, a contributing editor of The New York Sun, can be reached aliciav.colon@gmail.com.

Sotomayor and Spellman

Sotomayor and Spellman

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