One moment early in the questioning of Judge Sotomayor deserves highlighting, as it would seem to provide further confirmation of the dismal quality of character of the Judiciary Committee chairman. In the course of his first round of questioning (which, because the chairman goes first, was the first questioning session of any senator), Senator Pat Leahy purported to ask Sotomayor about her notorious “wise Latina” comment:
You said that, quote, you “would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would reach wise decisions.”
What Leahy presented as a quote was in fact a version he doctored to eliminate the very elements of the comment that rendered it controversial. Here’s what Sotomayor actually said (in a prepared text that was turned into a law-review article and that was repeated, in substantially similar form, on other occasions):
I 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.
Should anyone trust this man on anything?
(Byron York presents Leahy’s excuse for his misquote, along with a link to a YouTube clip that strongly indicates that Leahy is lying.)