Sonia Sotomayor Makes Everyone, Especially Us, Laugh At Dumb Old Senator Jeff Sessions

So Senator Jess Sessions (R-AL) was doing that thing he does where he yells at Sonia Sotomayor at the top of his lungs during her Supreme Court confirmation hearings, and he finally got around to unfavorably comparing her to another lady, Judge Miriam Cedarbaum. And then Sotomayor was all, “My friend Judge Cedarbaum is here,” and she supports Sotomayor’s nomination 100% and Oh Snap!

It began with this charmingly racist statement comparing her to another Puerto Rican judge who is good, because he’s conservative :

SESSIONS: You voted not to reconsider the prior case. You voted to stay with the decision of the circuit. And in fact your vote was the key vote. Had you voted with Judge (Jose) Cabranes, himself of Puerto Rican ancestry, had you voted with him, you could’ve changed that case.

Beaners, they all think alike! Or should!

Oh and, hey: bonus fun. Senator Sessions got all fussy about Sotomayor being a board member of that uppity Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, saying it made her “unsuitable for the bench.” Judge Cabranes is also a member. Doesn’t Sessions have an intern or something?

Sessions expanded on the subject by lecturing that Sotomayor should be more like Judge Miriam Cederbaum, who “believes that judges must transcend their personal sympathies and prejudices.” (Ladies, they all think alike! Or should!) At which point Judge Sotomayor pointed out Cedarbaum in the gallery, informed Sessions that the two women were good friends, and reminded him that they shared the same measured philosophy in approaching the bench.

Cedarbaum, for her part, elaborated after the hearing: “I don’t believe for a minute that there are any differences in our approach to judging, and her personal predilections have no effect on her approach to judging.”

This isn’t the last, obviously, but it’s kind of fun to see the latest and most blatant example yet of Republicans trotting out this idea of the “good” minority or the “good” woman (who just happens to agree totally with them.) Thank heavens for Wise Latinas like Sonia Sotomayor who can help us all laugh, together, to keep from crying all the live long day.

Sen. Jeff Sessions Slams Sotomayor For Not Voting Like Other Puerto Ricans [Think Progress]
Sotomayor Surprises Sessions [WSJ]