Stay Classy Debbie Schlussel

Or not.
Media Matters reposted the screen shot of Debbie Schlussel’s blog post. It’s pretty terrible. Racist, denigrating and down right disrespectful. She calls Justice Sotomayor “So-So” or “Sonia from the block” and compares her to Jennifer Lopez. She calls her a “chick” and argues that her life story (growing up Puerto-rican in the South Bronx) is the only reason she’s been nominated by Obama.
Oh, excuse me, Debbie, but I thought her thirty year long career working as an attorney and then a judge might have something to do with it. Even George Bush the first thought she was a worthy judge when he nominated her in 1991 for a seat on the US District Court.
Then there was her graduation summa cum laude from Princeton University in 1976, and the six honorary law degrees she has been awarded over her career. Not to mention the numerous court cases and legal decisions she has ruled on in her seventeen years as a district judge.
But right. Obama just wants her on the court because she’s Puerto-Rican and from the Bronx.
The one thing you are right about, Debbie, is that the rags to riches narrative about Sotomayor is played out. She’s earned her spot on the bench with her career as a judge. We’re all excited that there is a woman being nominated, and a Latina, because the Supreme Court is starting to look a little homogeneous. But just like Alito isn’t on the bench only because of his upbringing as a privileged white man, Sotomayor isn’t there only because of her background. More from Courtney on this narrative.