I believe that I’ve let enough time slip by for everyone to digest the story, but now I’ll need to ask for some help here. The readers of this site provide a more diverse set of opinions than virtually any other political blog I visit, so perhaps this is the only place where a cogent explanation might be found. And please keep in mind that I pose this question coming from a position of having repeatedly said that Judge Sotomayor meets all the qualifications for a spot on the Supreme Court, deserves an up or down vote, and will almost definitely be confirmed. So what I’m really looking for here is a reality check, and I invite readers from both sides to not only answer, but to dispute my initial assumption which is as follows:

Let us say that a sitting President of the United States nominated a white male judge from a Federal Circuit Court to be a justice on the Supreme Court. Let us also then say that a tape surfaced showing said judge stating, “I would hope that a wise white male with the richness of his experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a Latina woman who hasn’t lived that life.”

Here is my conclusion: Not only would the nomination be immediately withdrawn, but that judge would be hounded back to their home district and driven from their seat on the circuit court in record time. Their career would be over and there would be no Congressional hearings or opportunities for “clarification or comment“.

So if we can leave all the hyperbole about different experiences and systemic inequality behind for a moment, can anyone tell me why Judge Sotomayor’s comments were not seen as grounds for immediate dismissal, no matter how “out of context” you wish to say they were and no matter how many hours of comments which came prior to or following the statement are read into the record? Is justice not blind in America? Or is it only blind if you are white?

This is a serious question. Please… challenge my premise if you like or just answer the question honestly.