"Not That Smart"

The fake controversy created by the Republicans over Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court mostly just has me rolling my eyes - she's not a racist, she's not a radical, and she will be confirmed. End of story. But what has bothered me more than the pretend outrage that an "activist judge" (read: liberal) is going to be our next Supreme Court Justice is the passive-aggressive suggestions by some that Judge Sotomayor somehow isn't qualified - or, in the words of Karl Rove and Jeffrey Rosen (quoting an anonymous former law clerk), she's just "not that smart."

What? I'm sorry, WHAT??? This is a woman who graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University and Yale Law School. She has served as a federal district court judge and a federal appellate judge for 17 years. I think it's fair to criticize her, and any judge, on their record - as in, you can believe that a judge is wrong, or misguided, or has an agenda. I believe all of those things about, for example, Justice Antonin Scalia. But would I EVER deign to call him "not that smart"? Would anyone? No, they wouldn't. And you know why no one will ever call Justice Scalia's intelligence into question, or for that matter, the intelligence of Clarence Thomas (who, by the way, never utters a peep on the bench)? Because they are men, and they are presumptively "smart enough" to be Supreme Court Justices. But a woman? Not so much.

A lot has been made about Judge Sotomayor's ethnicity as the first Latino Supreme Court Justice, and rightly so. It's an important milestone for both the Latino community and the country as a whole, and given the fact that 8 out of 9 people on the Supreme Court are currently White (and the other one is Clarence Thomas, so the Court is for all intents and purposes 100% White), I welcome the diversity she will bring to the bench based on her life experience as a Latina. But I think the disparaging comments about her intellect - the insinuation that somehow, this very accomplished woman doesn't deserve this high honor - is as much about gender as it is race. Remember, she will be only the THIRD woman in the history of the Court if she is confirmed. This sense that Judge Sotomayor can't play with the big boys - that her intellect is no match for the great (male) minds already on the Court - has a serious overtone of misogyny that is disturbing to me. Judge Sotomayor's resume is just as impressive, if not more so, than those of the men who currently sit on the Court. But there is this underlying insinuation that her accomplishments don't matter; that still, she's somehow not good enough.

I find this to be incredibly depressing. As a (relatively) young woman, and a lawyer, I have always assumed that someday, I will reach some objective level of "success" or accomplishment that will insulate me from the accusation that I'm "not that smart," or that I don't belong playing with the big boys. Because regardless of the fact that more than half of the people in law school nowadays are women, I assure you - the law is still very much an old boys' club. I do not look forward to getting older, but I have been looking forward to the respect I assumed age and experience would confer upon me. Of course, I will never be a federal judge with 17 years of distinguished service on the bench - and I certainly don't have the Princeton/Yale Law pedigree - but nonetheless, I felt that I would eventually pay my dues and have enough experience that no one could seriously question my competency, or suggest that whatever accolades I receive or the good work I've done isn't actually that good. In short, I've always assumed that my work would speak for itself, regardless of my gender.

Unfortunately, the attacks on Judge Sotomayor have convinced me otherwise. Her substantial accomplishments have been attacked and undermined, with the implication being that she has been given a pass in life because of her race and her gender. Will we ever realize Dr. King's dream - to be judged on the content of our character, rather than the color of our skin? Will our humanity ever trump our sexuality? And most importantly - will we ever question the accomplishments of White men the way we do women and people of color as somehow "undeserved" because they are the beneficiaries of centuries of race and gender privilege? Sadly, something tells me no.