Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) started off Wednesday morning’s confirmation hearings with some blunt questioning, bringing up the favorite Republican talking point of Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s “wise Latina” comment.
In addition to explaining what she originally meant – and admitting that her “words failed” and “didn’t work” in getting her real message across – Sotomayor adopted a new strategy today, citing past comments from Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. Watch the video below.
During his own confirmation hearings, Alito said the following:
When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account.
Sotomayor paraphrased Alito, using it as evidence that judges can acknowledge that background has an influence while not letting that affect rulings in discrimination cases.
As a member of the current Supreme Court, Alito recently ruled on Ricci v. DeStefano, the New Haven firefighter case that Republicans have also brought up repeatedly against Sotomayor. So far, only a few media voices like Glenn Greenwald have asked whether Alito’s Italian-American heritage influenced his decision in that case.
Still, Sotomayor sought to distance herself from her controversial remarks, saying “it fell flat. I understand that some people understood [my words] in a way I never intended.”
