Francis L. Holland Circulates Online Petition Supporting Confirmation of Judge Sotomayor

Afrosphere blogger Atty. Francis L. Holland has prepared and is circulating an online petition supporting President Barack Obama's nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to be a justice of the US Supreme Court. Atty. Holland has prepared a widget that blogs can adopt to show solidarity with the President and his US Supreme Court pick. Holland has started a group called "Americans for a Pluralistic US Supreme Court" to circulate the petition and build support for Judge Sotomayor's nomination.

Holland says,

It's obvious what the Republicans are doing. They want to repeat Judge Sotomayor's "wise Latina woman" quote over and over again, in the hopes of convincing the public that owning one's own ethnic heritage is the equivalent of "racism". Therefore the only people who should be on the Court are those who purportedly "are not part of any ethnic or gender group": white men!

This petition "owns" and exults in the fact that Sotomayor is a "wise Latina woman" and explains that historically only white men were allowed on the Court -- a white male quota system -- which is precisely why the US Senate must confirm Judge Sonia Sotomayor, in addition to Sotomayor's obviously excellent credentials.

The online petition says:

View Current Signatures - Sign the Petition

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To: Members of the US Senate

I strongly support and urge immediate Senate confirmation of President Barack Obama’s nominee for the US Supreme Court: “wise Latina woman”, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who now sits on U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

At present, the US Supreme Court has nine members, of whom seven are white men. This is unfair and unbalanced. According to the US Census, the nation is less than 33% white male, while it is approximately 51% female, 15% Latino and 13% Black. Although white males are the minority of America, they remain the vast majority of the US Supreme Court, just as was the case before women and minorities gained the right to vote.

It is impossible in a pluralistic society for a Court comprised of 78% white men to make wise, reasoned and sound decisions affecting the lives of a nation which is less than 33% white male. A wise and just Supreme Court requires a diversity of experiences, with the participation of representatives of the majority of Americans.

For far too long, there has been a quota system at the United States Supreme Court. The de facto quota system required that all or the vast majority of the nine members of the Court be white males. In the history of the nation, there have never been more than three members of the court who were not white males at any one time. The anachronistic white male quota system is no longer tenable as the nation strives to treat all Americans equally and to have a government all of whose branches have the consent and participation of the nation’s diverse populace.

The US Supreme Court cannot function wisely, justly, and fairly without the full participation of wise women and wise members of the nation’s minority groups, including the nation’s largest minority – Latinos. Therefore, we urge our elected representatives in the US Senate to immediately confirm the “wise Latina woman” who has earned our respect and support: soon-to-be US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

View Current Signatures

This petition is not formally or informally a project of the Afrosphere Action Coalition per se, but it's worth announcing it to the afrosphere so that participants can support it or not, as they wish.