Sotomayor's Senior Thesis

K.C. Johnson, reading at the request of Stuart Taylor Jr., offers his assessment of Sotomayor's senior thesis. Grade wise, he believed it "probably receive an A/A minus or an A minus". He said that the 178 page thesis was pretty well written founded on good research. There were a few things he found "jarring".

"First, I'm curious as to when Sotomayor ceased being a Puerto Rican nationalist who favors independence -- as she says she does in the preface. (The position, as she points out in the thesis, had received 0.6 percent in a 1967 referendum, the most recent such vote before she wrote the thesis.
...
Second, her unwillingness to call the Congress the U.S. Congress is bizarre -- in the thesis, it's always referred to as either the 'North American Congress' or the 'mainland Congress.' ... This kind of rhetoric was very trendy, and not uncommon, among the Latin Americanist fringe of the academy.
...
Third, she had an odd habit of inserting (sic) into quotes not to identify an error but because she disagreed with the (usually innocuous) content of the quotes."

At the time of her senior thesis it seems Sotomayor held views that were shared by only a tiny percentage of the public. She also used peculiar terminology which may hint at other non-mainstream views. This does not end Sotomayor's bid, but does present an avenue of questions that should be explored before deciding on her confirmation.

More at http://ninthjustice.nationaljournal.com/2009/06/grading-sotomayors-senior-thes.php.

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