The politics of fear and fiction: Pat Buchanan on the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor

In the year 2009, many are hopeful that the election of the first African American President, Barack Obama, symbolizes the beginning of the end to racism and discrimination. By seeing the highest office in the United States occupied by an African American man, there is hope that the most prolific misconceptions and generalizations about Black men will begin to disappear. There is a similar hope that the potential confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic and third female justice to the Supreme Court will continue to shatter glass ceilings. However, comments similar to those made by MSNBC pundit Pat Buchanan on the Rachel Maddow Show may bring into question the extent of the progress that has been made.

Perhaps Buchanan was fueled by the controversial case of Ricci v. DeStefano wherein Sotomayor joined a unanimous panel of three judges who upheld the ruling of a lower court which was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court on a 5-4 decision. The case dealt with the promotion of New Haven firefighters based upon a so-called merit-based test. After none of the African American firefighters passed the test, the city threw out the results fearing it fell under the ‘disparate impact’ considerations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. In a ruling that may be seen as creating new components of law, “the Court reasoned that New Haven failed to prove it had a ‘strong basis in evidence’ that failing to discard the results of the exam would have subjected it to liability….”

Regardless of the motivation, Buchanan decried Sotomayor to be a meritless nominee based on her heritage rather than qualifications. He calls Republicans to “…expose Sotomayor as a political activist whose career bespeaks a lifelong resolve to discriminate against white males… I don't think Judge Sonia Sotomayor is qualified for the United States Supreme Court." Clearly, Buchanan chose to disregard the fact that Sotomayor is one of the most qualified judges to be nominated in the past 70 years.

According to Buchanan, affirmative action is intentioned upon “increas(ing) diversity by discriminating against white males.” However, legally the term really means “Employment programs required by federal statutes and regulations designed to remedy discriminatory practices in hiring minority group members; i.e., positive steps designed to eliminate existing and continuing discrimination, to remedy lingering effects of past discrimination, and to create systems and procedures to prevent future discrimination; commonly based on population percentages of minority groups in a particular area. Factors considered are race, color, sex, creed, and age.” So, given that the purpose is to amend previous wrongs, on what can he base his definition? The goal is not to disadvantage the majority, but rather to help ensure the minority access to equivalent opportunities.

Buchanan contends that Judge Sotomayor was accepted to Princeton undergrad simply because of her race. Even assuming that race was a factor in her admittance, there are no minority only tests that would advantage her during her tenure and subsequent admittance to Yale Law School. Her success was because of her skill and determination rather than her Latina heritage. Furthermore, Buchanan stated “How did she get on Yale law review? Affirmative action.” However, the Yale Law Journal uses a blind submission policy, wherein all manuscripts are viewed anonymously, “without regard to the author's name, institutional affiliation, prior publications, or pending publication offers." Sotomayor’s race could not have been a factor.

So why is Mr. Buchanan so very opposed to affirmative action now? His questionable rationale is as follows. “Well, I think white men were 100 percent of the people that wrote the Constitution, 100 percent of the people that signed the Declaration of Independence, 100 percent of people who died at Gettysburg and Vicksburg. Probably close to 100 percent of the people who died at Normandy…This has been a country built basically by white folks in this country who are 90 percent of the entire nation-in 1960, when I was growing up, Rachel-and the other 10 percent were African-American who had been discriminated against. That's why.” Actually, Mr. Buchanan, nearly 10% of the Union army was composed of African Americans. Indeed, 23 Black soldiers from both the Confederate and Union armies were awarded with the Medal of Honor from the Civil War. These African American countrymen were joined by countless other Asian, Hispanics, and Native Americans who gave their lives in service of their country. And how can Buchanan even begin to disregard the role of African slaves in crafting the United States. Even the White House, where Buchanan once hoped to spend the majority of his time, was largely constructed by slaves. Although little is known about Ben, Harry and Daniel, the work of their hands remains a prominent symbol of our nation. Born a free man, Benjamin Banneker was instrumental in the design and construction of Washington D.C. itself.

With such deep-seated aversion to affirmative action, one might assume that it has always been Buchanan’s political position. However, in 1971, Buchanan prompted President Nixon to implement an affirmative action plan aimed at increasing the number of Catholics on the Supreme Court. In the document, he prompted “…instead of sending the orders out to all our other agencies-- hire blacks and women-- the order should go out-- hire ethnic Catholics preferable women, for visible posts. One example: Italian Americans, unlike blacks, have never had a Supreme Court member-- they are deeply concerned with their 'criminal' image; they do not dislike the President. Give those fellows the 'Jewish seat' or the 'black seat' on the Court when it becomes available." What a remarkable change of heart!

As Justice Sandra Day O’Connor stated, “In the ideal world, I think skin color would be treated like eye color or like one’s religion, whose differences we tolerate and celebrate and do not rank…But in today’s America, I’m inclined to think that race still matters in painful ways.” Hopefully, the beliefs of Mr. Buchanan are becoming the minority. However, his ability to profess his ideals with such conviction and blatant disregard for fact should remind us all of the great distance we as a nation still must go.

For more info: 
Buchanan’s Nixon Document
Maddow and Buchanan Transcript
African American War Involvement
Blog about Buchanan's Change of Heart