Sotomayor Is Just The Beginning Of Sweet Sweet Revenge

Jamelle is pissed off with the central argument against Sotomayor among conservatives:

What pisses me off is this completely ahistorical sense on part of Republicans that the Supreme Court is and always has been a perfectly just, perfectly impartial institution.  For most of this country’s history, the default perspective on the nation’s highest court has been that of wealthy white men, and accordingly, the court’s rulings have reflected the biases and prejudices of its members.  The court’s Dred Scott ruling, for instance, clearly reflects the fact that a majority of the Court’s members at the time were slaveholders.  Likewise, the Court’s ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson clearly reflects a group of men who had – like most of their peers – internalized a narrative of black inferiority and black “difference.”

It’s also important to recognize that laws disenfranchising nonwhites have largely been allowed because whites were the majority. As they continue to become the minority (and, oh yes, it will continue), the rich white male will probably see less legal rulings in his favor. This isn’t a conscious act on the part of nonwhites, it’s actually part of how democracy works: the majority gets its way and the minority doesn’t. It’s not fair but it’s deserved.