Elon Law professor Sonya Garza recently spoke with News 14 Carolina and published a column in the Greensboro News and Record about the historic nature of Judge Sonya Sotomayor's appointment to the Supreme Court, the latest in a series of media appearances by Elon Law faculty about Sotomayor's nomination.
Speaking with News 14 Carolina, Garza said, “I think she will be a nice fit for the court. I don’t think in any way she will be radical. I think since she is replacing Justice Souter, we will see a pretty good fit with the other members of the court that Justice Souter has usually aligned himself with. As far as history, of course, she is only the third woman who will sit on the court and she is the first Latino.”
Garza, a graduate of Stanford Law School and a former Board Member of both the Stanford Latino Law Students Association and Women of Stanford Law, writes in her column published in the Greensboro News and Record that Sotomayor’s Latina background influenced the extensive degree to which members of the Senate and the national media questioned whether she would bring an undue bias to the court.
Garza writes, “Even given my personal identification with Judge Sotomayor’s story, I will be the first to criticize the judiciary for being plagued with bias. Bias pervades our courtrooms in the most important cases. However, bias in the judiciary is a reality that affects all of our courts, at all levels. And we should continue to scrutinize all judges, not just those who come from backgrounds we are not used to seeing on the bench.”
Click on the E-Cast links to the right of this article to view a portion of Garza’s interview with News 14 Carolina, to read Garza’s full column in the News and Record, and to review prior media appearances by Elon Law faculty about the Supreme Court nomination and confirmation process.
Click here for additional information about Professor Garza.