Can We Honestly Judge the Judge?
President Obama nominated federal Appeals Court Judge, Sonia Sotomayor, to the U.S. Supreme Court, citing her “inspiring life story” and “distinguished career” in his decision. Judge Sotomayor, 54, is confirmed as the first Hispanic on the high court. Congratulations to her. However, her ethnicity or anything else seems to me to be beside the point.
Whether we personally think she was right for the job or not, clearly this woman seems to know her stuff: In 1997 Bill Clinton nominated Sonia Sotomayor for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. George H. W. Bush nominated her as a federal judge in 1991, a position that made Sotomayor the youngest judge in the Southern District of New York.
In the long and drawn out senate hearings, it seems like most of the controversy as to whether Judge Sotomayor was fit for the position was due to the fact that during a speech at the University of California at Berkeley, she said:
“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”
Think about it: We tell ourselves not to judge, yet evaluation is a basic survival process.
To think that we can see things without the influence of our experience is nothing more than a ‘new age’ fantasy.
However, we can choose to evaluate each given moment on an individual basis. Nonetheless, what we choose to see or do will be judged by others, (especially those who claim to be nonjudgmental) as judgmental.
To be clear: I understand that the law is the law. I get that, or at least I would, if it were true… We are all aware of the high-powered individuals who have walked away from prosecution with little more than a slap on the wrist in comparison to the man or woman on the street who would have, for the same crime, ended up bunking with hardcore criminals.
Again, I understand that the senate wants to make sure a high court judge is without bias. However, that is not and cannot be possible.
You see, we human beings, no matter how educated and objective we like to think we are, have a mind that records everything we experience. We have whatever experiences we have, and the ‘ego-mind’ then creates a set of filters, (beliefs) based on that experience and all too often the ego-mind will then distort all incoming information so that you see life as a reflection of that belief.
What I’m saying here is that yes, even judges ‘judge’ based on their experience, and although they must be guided and directed by the law, to expect even a high court judge to create a ‘personal experiential amnesia’ is ludicrous. No mater what her ethnicity or life experience… I’m not here to judge the judge, although I know I am like all the rest of us…judgmental.
If you want to understand more of how the ego-mind is filtering and possibly limiting your reality, you can get a hold of my new book: “Don’t Read This…Your Ego Won’t Like It”
I look forward to your comments and feedback.
With gratitude,
Dov
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