Almost identical. Why would that be relevant? Because the White House spin — one that Sotomayer herself has picked up on — has been that the Supreme Court nominee merely misspoke in 2001. Apparently she merely misspoke while giving a nearly-identical answer 7 years earlier, too.
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.”
By 2001 that answer evolved into her race making her a better judge, too. The question is how the White House’s spin will evolve over the coming days…or if it even will. Is the Obama Administration’s next move to alter the spin, insist that she misspoke in 1994 as well, or simply ignore this revelation? My bet’s on the latter.
More: Ace of Spades.
by Stephan Tawney on Wed, Jun 3, 2009