The push for Sonia Sotomayor to join the Supreme Court continues as the views of Sotomayor continue to be introduced to the public. However, I wonder if anyone will start to question if she is truly the right person for the job (say, like I did when the news first came out).
My original main concern was that she wasn’t the best choice for the job as there are countless other individuals with stronger legal backgrounds available to fill the role. It wasn’t a position of Democrat or Republican; it was a question of her qualifications.
Now even Sotomayor, herself, is saying that she wasn’t qualified to get into her school and that affirmative action was the reason she has had the opportunities:
“If we had gone through the traditional numbers route of those institutions, it would have been highly questionable if I would have been accepted,” she said on a panel of three female judges from New York who were discussing women in the judiciary. The video is dated “early 1990s” in Senate records.
But of course, it wasn’t that she didn’t have the ability – it was the fault of the test.
Judge Sonia Sotomayor once described herself as “a product of affirmative action” who was admitted to two Ivy League schools despite scoring lower on standardized tests than many classmates, which she attributed to “cultural biases” that are “built into testing.”
This, right here, angers me in a way that is very difficult for me to describe. Not because she was given an “opportunity” – one she apparently made the most of – but because this statement implies people cannot overcome adversity.
There are certain standards one must meet in order to function in a specific role. If I go to Germany, and I speak fluent German, but do not have the cultural background and knowledge of the local people – which is needed in order to get into my University of choice – how would I get it?
I wouldn’t.
If I built my knowledge base, understood the details of the community and country, even the obscure details, then I would have a better chance. I wouldn’t, and shouldn’t, even be considered if I do not have the minimum requirements. That said, I can place myself in a position where I can have the needed knowledge. So, to say there is cultural biases built into testing – while possible true – is no excuse. You find a way to succeed, not depend on someone to get you through simply because of your race/sex/background.
More and more it seems that society simply expects things to be given to them, we have to work for them. We have to earn them. If there is something in our way, find a new path and don’t make excuses.
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