Arab-American Group Supports Sotomayor

posted on: Jul 17, 2009

The largest Arab-American group said it supports the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court, expressing concerns about attacks on her past statements.
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The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, whose biggest chapter office is in Michigan, said in a release today that Sotomayor “will safeguard the civil rights … of all.”

Sotomayor has come under attack for her statements about ethnicity, saying in speeches that a “wise Latina” would make a better decision than a white male.

Some conservatives and others have said they are concerned she would not be an objective judge and treat people as members of ethnic and racial groups rather than as individuals.

If confirmed, Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Kareem Shora, executive director of the committee, said in a statement that people “should not be distracted by divisive or discriminatory criticism unfairly directed at the first Hispanic-American nominee to the Supreme Court. Similar tactics were employed against the first Jewish-American nominee and the first African-American nominee.“

Shora added that “should similar criticism face the first Arab-American nominee to the Supreme Court one day,” he would urge people to look at the nominee’s records.

Niraj Warikoo
Detroit Free Press