My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor - Book Report/Review Example

Ideological Analysis The American nation’s founding fathers had a great vision for the country embedded in the constitution. The federal constitution was ratified in 1879 after the American War of Independence ended in 1783. They viewed America as a democratic society but that required checks and balances in order to function effectively. As such the framers of the constitution such as James Madison and Thomas Jefferson put restrictions in the constitution to ensure equal opportunity for all. According to them “all men are equal and with inalienable rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness” (Declaration of Independence 1776). America also sought to fulfill its manifest destiny which was to spread democracy in all parts of the world and also civilize the world. As such, it engaged in its expansion to the West by first engaging in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 by Thomas Jefferson. This expansion had its consequences and the major one was the question of slavery which eventually led to the civil war of 1861-1865. Thereafter, a period of Reconstruction began which saw the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and also amendments to the constitution to guarantee the founding promise of equal opportunity for all. However, the long history of America consists of persistent ideologies that threaten this very promise and is also full of unresolved contradictions. The aim of this paper is to analyze the autobiography of Justice Sonia Sotomayor in order to explain these contradictions and ideologies. In the book My Beloved World (2013), Sonia Sotomayor gives an account of her experiences throughout her lifetime up to 1992 when she began her judicial career as a judge. Sotomayor was born on June 25, 1954 in Bronx New York City to an alcoholic father who was a tool and die worker and an emotionally distant mother who was a practical nurse. She often sought refuse at her paternal grandmother’s house who she became attached to. She was diagnosed of Type 1 diabetes at seven years of age and since then had to administer insulin injections daily. Her father died of heart problems when she was nine years old and was brought up by a single mother through hardships. Through her childhood experiences such as administering insulin, she learnt to be self independent and courageous and was determined to become a lawyer (Sotomayor 4). Being of a Puerto Rican ancestry, her family was bound to endure hardships associated with minority races. They first lived in South Bronx tenements but later moved to Bronx houses housing project which was well-maintained as well as racially and ethnically mixed. The projects were also inhabited by the working-class. Sotomayor attended Blessed Sacrament school where she graduated as a valedictorian then moved on to Cardinal Spellman High School in Bronx and later joined Princeton University. While there she joined the Accion Puertorriquera organization as a co-chair and worked with admissions office (Sotomayor 8). She used to travel to high schools to lobby on behalf of their best prospects. She graduated in 1976 and got married to Kevin Edward Nooran whom she divorced in 1983 due to work pressure. In the same year, she joined Yale law school. The school had very few Latinos reflecting the American history which is very contradictory. On one hand, it promised equality for all and on the other, it practiced inequalities as people from racial minorities never got places in the best education institutions let alone have valuable education. She became a co-chair of a group of Latin, Asian and Native American students which was very vocal in pushing for the hiring of more Hispanics in the law faculty. In her third year, she also pushed for a formal complaint against a Washington, D.C law firm Shaw, Pittman & Trowbridge for suggesting that she was in Yale only as an affirmative action (Sotomayor 185-186). She graduated from Yale in 1979 and was admitted to New York Bar in 1980. It is through her work that the unresolved contradictions of American history and persistence of ideologies that threaten the promise of equal opportunity for all are manifested. During Reconstruction after the civil war, the Congress passed the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S constitution. The Fourteenth Amendment (1868) gave citizenship, and ensured equality under the law as well as due process of the law. The Fifteenth Amendment ratified in 1870 gave voting rights to all citizens. According to the Amendment, “the right of citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the US or by any state on account race, color, or previous condition of servitude” (Ferrell 41). This was a strong move towards achieving the founding father’s promise of equality of protection. It guaranteed equal protection of laws and a process that secured all citizens the right to participate equally in self-government. According to Sotomayor (572 U.S.—(2014), 1), this was “the bedrock of democracy —it preserved all other rights.” However, all was not well as the Southern States locked the racial minorities out of the political process by denying them the right to vote. Black codes in these states ensured the blacks did not exercise their rights. Even though the courts intervened to make these laws unconstitutional, these states used other ways to ensure this right was not exercised equally for example by use of poll taxes, literacy tests and good character requirements (572 U.S.—(2014), 1-2). Moreover, groups like Ku Klux Klan used intimidation, violence and fraud to violate this right of equality under the law. Sotomayor argues that these states changed the ground rules of the process to hinder the minorities from participating meaningfully and equally in the political process. Sotomayor was appointed as the assistant district attorney in New York County under Robert Morgenthau in 1979. Her work was to prosecute robberies, assaults, murder, police brutality and child pornography among others. Though she was fearful of appearing before the judges due to her race, she was not afraid to go to any extent to extract evidence from witnesses. Giving herself insulin shots had taught her to be disciplined and her mother had also taught her to “be polite even if it means softening a strong opinion” (Sotomayor 8). She always relied on facts to prosecute a case and not philosophical world views. Her background experience did not hinder her from making sound decisions based on facts rather than racial bias. She aspired to be a judge especially after watching a television series Perry mash whereby a prosecutor did not care about the innocence of citizens while the judge made sound decisions (Nicholas & Oliphant, nap). However, she was sympathetic to low-level crimes as she believed they were products of socioeconomic environment and poverty. She entered private practice in 1984 in Paria & Harcourt dealing with intellectual property litigation and international law. During this period, she witnessed discriminations in hiring practices and political processes that threatened equal opportunity promise. Sotomayor became the first Hispanic federal judge in New York state and the first Puerto Rican woman to serve as a judge in the U.S federal courts when she was appointed as U.S District court judge in the Southern district of New York city by President George Bush in 1992 (Sotomayor 223). Here, she just depended on facts to make judgments and evaluated all evidence available in support of the case. This ensured equality under the law by following due process. In June 1997, she was nominated by President Bill Clinton to the U.S Second Circuit Court of Appeals (P. 4). However, due to her racial background as a Latina, the Republicans were unwilling to confirm her hence the delay in approval until October 1998. She was also a member of task force for gender, racial and ethnic fairness in courts. She also presided over an employment discrimination case Ricci v. DeStefano whereby she upheld the right of the city of New Haven to throw out its firefighting tests due to their disregard for minority groups. There were no blacks who passed the tests. In May 26, 2009 she became first Hispanic and third woman to U.S Supreme Court when President Barrack Obama appointed her as an Associate Supreme Court Justice. Most times court rulings do not act to prevent racial injustices fro happening but support them. The law can be interpreted in many ways and judges use their discretion to decide what is and what is not against the constitution. For example, in the case of Schuette v. BAMN in the Supreme Court whereby justice Sotomayor dissented, the majority ruled that Michigan electorate could decide on use of race-sensitive admission policies thus refusing the school board to decide on such issues. They argued that judicial intervention in such a case could impede rather than advance democratic process and hope of equality (572 U.S.—(2014), 2). This is a historical contradiction as the constitution encourages democracy but at the same time requires equal protection of the laws. The majority often argue that affirmative action is favoring the minority at expense of majority and a hindrance to democratic processes. For Sotomayor, race-sensitive policies are required to ensure equality as no obstacles should be put in the way of enjoying rights. For example, since California banned race-conscious admission policies the admission rate of underrepresented minority has declined greatly from 52.4% in 1995 to 24% in 1998 (572 U.S.—(2014), 52). As such, these policies should be put in place and protected by the courts to ensure equality of opportunity as guaranteed in the constitution. Works cited Ferrell, Claudine L. Reconstruction. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003. Nicholas, Peter and Oliphant, James "Two sides to Sonia Sotomayor". Los Angeles Times. Web. May 22, 2014. Sotomayor, Sonia. My Beloved World. New York: Afred A.Knopf, 2013. Supreme Court of the United States. Bill Schuette, Attorney General of Michigan, Petitioner v. Coalition To Defend Affirmative Action, Integration and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN). 572 U. S. ___ (2014). Read More