Sotomayor & Life Experiences When Judging

President Barak Obama has selected Sonia Sotomayor to be the replacement justice for retiring justice David Souter. There has been a lot of hoopla about the fact that Judge Sotomayor brings her life experiences to the bench when she convenes a court. Some have called her a racist and unfit for the nation's highest court. But the truth of the mater is that no matter what career field we enter, we ALWAYS bring our life experiences with us. I am grateful that Judge Sotomayor has been honest enough to give voice to it.

Republicans on the Hill and in the pundocracy talk about the judges who hold up the rule of law. When Jim Crow ruled the day in the south, judges were upholding the rule of law but those rulings were funneled through a life experience that devalued blacks and elevated white supremacy.

It has been quoted that "Justice is blind" and certainly that is a excellent slogan and a great vision statement for any court but the only person who can be completely objective based on an absolute pure moral standard is Almighty God. Anyone other than the good Lord brings their experiences (good and bad) to the bench with them. We can only hope that a combination of that experience coupled with knowledge of the law can yield a just result. But time and time again we have seen where even the best judges, attorneys and juries can make a mistake. Not because it was intentional but because failable human beings are making the decisions.

Why don't we celebrate the differences and perspectives that other cultures bring to the judicial process instead of trying to pretend that we can be absolutely objective and impartial under every circumstance? Who we are and what we have experiences is what makes us unique as the human creature. If we want unfeeling and purely cold decisions, we should just developed a good artificial intelligence computer program with voice recognition features that should hear and rule on our judicial proceedings.