Breaking: Sotomayor Made Same “Wise Woman” Speech In 1990s — And No One Objected | The Plum Line

Breaking: Sotomayor Made Same “Wise Woman” Speech In 1990s — And No One Objected | The Plum Line

Sotomayor has made other remarks about being a wise woman, this makes the White House defense that it was a slip of the tongue a mistake very unbelievable.

I’ve just obtained a speech that Sonia Sotomayor gave in 1994, in which she made a comment virtually identical to the “wise Latina” one from 2001 that has generated so much controversy.

And though the 1994 speech was disclosed to Republican Senators as part of her confirmation for Court of Appeals in 1998, there’s no sign that anyone objected to it in any way.

The revelation raises fresh questions as to why the 2001 comments generated the controversy they did, and suggests that the comments are not as controversial as her critics claim.

A copy of the 1994 speech was included with the questionnaire she submitted for the 1998 confirmation. A Sotomayor supporter sent both to me.

Here’s what she said in the 1994 speech:

“Justice O’Connor has often been cited as saying that “a wise old man and a wise old woman reach the same conclusion in dueling cases. I am not so sure Justice O’Connor is the author of that line since Professor Resnik attributes the line to Supreme Court Justice Coyle. I am not so sure that I agree with the statement. First, if Prof. Martha Minnow is correct, there can never be a universal definition of ‘wise.’ Second, I would hope that a wise woman with the richness of her experience would, more often than not, reach a better conclusion.”

That’s virtually identical to the comments from 2001 that have generated days and days of controversy.

There’s no sign that any Republican Senators — seven of whom are still in the Senate — had any objection whatsoever to the comments when they reviewed them in 1998.

See also This brief article by Ben Smith

Greg Sargent has the interesting report that Sonia Sotomayor delivered an almost word-for-word version of her controversial "wise Latina" speech back in 1994, and that it was reviewed by the Senate back then.

That undercuts GOP efforts to cast it as the outrage of the century; it also makes it harder for the White House to cast it as a slip of the tongue.

(Berkeley may also be a little peeved that she gave a retread speech, though in fact her 2001 address -- though it includes some of the same language -- is much longer and broader.)