White Male Exceptionalism

Gene Robinson explains why I get so upset with Sessions, etc. and the GOP on this Sotomayor thing! And he's got critical race theory correct as well.

Republicans' outrage, both real and feigned, at Sotomayor's musings about how her identity as a "wise Latina" might affect her judicial decisions is based on a flawed assumption: that whiteness and maleness are not themselves facets of a distinct identity. Being white and male is seen instead as a neutral condition, the natural order of things. Any "identity" -- black, brown, female, gay, whatever -- has to be judged against this supposedly "objective" standard.Thus it is irrelevant if Justice Samuel Alito talks about the impact of his background as the son of Italian immigrants on his rulings -- as he did at his confirmation hearings -- but unforgivable for Sotomayor to mention that her Puerto Rican family history might be relevant to her work. Thus it is possible for Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., to say with a straight face that heritage and experience can have no bearing on a judge's work, as he posited in his opening remarks on Monday, apparently believing that the white male justices he has voted to confirm were somehow devoid of heritage and bereft of experience.