Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2013
Publication Title
Thomas Jefferson Law Review
Abstract
Identity matters when it comes to judging. It is important to have judges with intersecting subordinated identities on our courts because these judges contribute unique perspectives that can be different from judges lacking the lived experience of intersectionality. With the appointment of Justice Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court came many questions, including one about whether her identity as a Latina would affect her decision making on the Court. The question is a legitimate one prompted by a statement Justice Sotomayor made in a speech several years prior to her nomination to the Court. In a lecture given at the University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall) in 2001, then-Judge Sotomayor made a comment that suggested that the lived experience of judges is relevant to the process of judicial decision-making.
Volume
36
First Page
83
Recommended Citation
Carla D. Pratt, Judging Identity, 36 T. Jefferson L. Rev. 83 (2013-2014).