Fresh out of law school in 1989, I worked out west for a boutique litigation firm of 10 muy macho male lawyers. I was young and uncomfortable in my Casual Corner suits, not yet savvy enough to handle the minority status. Instead, I fled east, chasing some fantasy that there was no such thing as minority status in New York.
So, it was with interest I read this article entitled "The Place of Women on the Court" (recent NYT Magazine) in which Justice Ginsburg talks about being the One Woman of the Nine on the Supreme Court. She also talks candidly about Justice-to-be Sotomayor's path, and sounds downright Claw-like discussing Sotomayor's much-aligned remarks about being Latina and a woman. [In 2001 Sotomayor 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.”] Here's how Justice Ginsburg responds to those critics:
I thought it was ridiculous for them to make a big deal out of that. Think of how many times you’ve said something that you didn’t get out quite right, and you would edit your statement if you could. I’m sure she meant no more than what I mean when I say: Yes, women bring a different life experience to the table. All of our differences make the conference better. That I’m a woman, that’s part of it, that I’m Jewish, that’s part of it, that I grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., and I went to summer camp in the Adirondacks, all these things are part of me.
God bless her! I wish J.Ginsburg had been there to mentor me back when I was the lone woman on that muy macho litigation team...
