I am an ordinary person who has been blessed with extraordinary opportunities and experiences.
Sonia SotomayorRead
The worst thing you want is a willy-nilly judge who is swayed by the political whims of the era or the time. What you want is a judge who is thinking about what he or she is doing and is thinking about it in a principled way.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of an impartial and principled judge rather than one influenced by political pressures.
Sonia Sotomayor's quote underscores the significance of judicial integrity and the necessity for judges to act thoughtfully and with principles, free from the transient political influences that might sway their judgments. It highlights the critical role of ethics in the judiciary, advocating for a legal system where decisions are made based on justice rather than popular opinion.
In practice
During a legal seminar discussing the importance of ethics in the judiciary.
I am an ordinary person who has been blessed with extraordinary opportunities and experiences.
This wealth of experiences, personal and professional, have helped me appreciate the variety of perspectives that present themselves in every case that I hear.
I was fifteen years old when I understood how it is that things break down: people can't imagine someone else's point of view.
The truth is that since childhood I had cultivated an existential independence. It came from perceiving the adults around me as unreliable, and without it I felt I wouldn't have survived. I cared deeply for everyone in my family, but in the end I depended on myself.
As you discover what strength you can draw from your community in this world from which it stands apart, look outward as well as inward. Build bridges instead of walls.
There are uses to adversity, and they don't reveal themselves until tested. Whether it's serious illness, financial hardship, or the simple constraint of parents who speak limited English, difficulty can tap unexpected strengths.
We are closer to God when we are asking questions than when we think we have the answers.
The land-relation is still strictly economic, entailing privileges but not obligations
Grief does not seem to me to be a choice. Whether or not you think grief has value, you will lose what matters to you. The world will break your heart. So I think we’d better look at what grief might offer us. It’s like what Rilke says about self-doubt: it is not going to go away, and therefore you need to think about how it might become your ally.
There are mythologies that are scattered, broken up, all around us. We stand on what I call a terminal moraine of shattered mythic systems that once structured society. They can be detected all around us. You can select any of these fragments that activate your imagination for your own use. Let it help shape your own relationship to the unconscious system out of which these symbols have come.
If what the heart approves conforms to proper patterns, then even if one's desires are many, what harm would they be to good order?
Honestly, what can really be said about 'the Jewish people' as a whole? Is it not a lamentable stereotype to make large generalizations about all Jews, and to presume they all share the same political commitments?
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