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The "racist" charges come partly from a lecture Sotomayor gave in 2001, at Berkeley's law school, where she said diversity on the bench was important because judges' life experience informs their decision making. That may not sound so controversial, but conservatives are pulling out one sentence in particular, where Sotomayor said she "would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." In the context of the whole eight-page speech, it doesn't sound as jarring, but that didn't stop Ann Coulter from pouncing on it. Add that to a case Sotomayor helped decide, which ...

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The "racist" charges come partly from a lecture Sotomayor gave in 2001, at Berkeley's law school, where she said diversity on the bench was important because judges' life experience informs their decision making. That may not sound so controversial, but conservatives are pulling out one sentence in particular, where Sotomayor said she "would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." In the context of the whole eight-page speech, it doesn't sound as jarring, but that didn't stop Ann Coulter from pouncing on it. Add that to a case Sotomayor helped decide, which the Supreme Court may overturn this summer, while her nomination is pending, and you've got a potent narrative. The federal appeals court Sotomayor sits on ruled against a white fireman in New Haven who sued the city after it threw out the results of a promotion exam because black and Latino firefighters appeared disproportionately likely to fail it.