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SOAPSTone

Rhetorical Analysis

Speaker- Sonia Sotomayor

Occassion- At the Judge Mario G. Olmos Memorial Lecture in 2001, at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.

Audience- Those in the federal judiciary.

Purpose- A judge's race and/or gender will cause them to be biased in their decisions and suggests these are only various perspectives and should be embraced.

Subject- Sotomayor questioned what many other judges have invoked in the past with her speech in attempts to inspire women and latinos.

Tone- Calm, straightforward, and factual.

Notable Diction

Rhetorical Devices

Paternalistic- A policy or practice of treating or governing people in a fatherly manner, especially by providing for their needs without giving them rights or responsibilities.

Extrapolate- to project, extend, or expand (known data or experience) into an area not known or experienced so as to arrive at a usually conjectural knowledge of the unknown area.

Rhetorical Question-

Sotomayor asks "Who am I?" then answers the question immediately after by calling herself a "Newyorkrican".

Allusion-

Sotomayor quotes adjectives that were famously used during the suffragettes' movement to emphasize her point.

"...the denial to women of the right to vote because we were described then "as not capable of reasoning or thinking logically" but instead of "acting intuitively." I am quoting adjectives that were bandied around famously during the suffragettes' movement."

Was It Well Recieved?

After hearing her speech, many people opposed to the idea that personal experiences effect a judge's decisions in a court setting. Many people in the federal judiciary believe "that a wise old man and a wise old woman would reach the same conclusion when deciding cases." There were accusations of her being reverse-racist, reverse-sexist, but most of all biased. Although many disagreed with her, Sonia Sotomayor still expresses her thoughts on diversity and how important and valuable it is.

Education

The transition from Cardinal Spellman High School in 1972 to the ivy league Princeton University was overwhelming for Sonia. She sought aid for her English classes while becoming active in the Puerto Rican community on campus, including Accion Puertorriquena and The Third World Center. She graduated summa cum laude from Princeton in 1976. That same year, Sonia went to Yale Law School.

Ethos

Making History

Historical Background

At the very beginning of the speech, Sotomayor tells her audience that she is delighted to be there and how she even feels honored.

She also gives evidence of her being very well-educated on both the topic at hand, and in general and states so.

"If I had pursued my career in my undergraduate history major, I would likely provide you with a very academic description of what being a Latino or Latina means. For example, I could define Latinos as those peoples and cultures populated or colonized by Spain who maintained or adopted Spanish or Spanish Creole as their language of communication. You can tell that I have been very well educated. That antiseptic description however, does not really explain the appeal of morcilla - pig's intestine - to an American born child. It does not provide an adequate explanation of why individuals like us, many of whom are born in this completely different American culture, still identify so strongly with those communities in which our parents were born and raised."

Sonia's famous quote, "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.", is an example of the improper way to use the ethical appeal. This "rhetorical flourish", as Sotomayor called it, subjected her to scrutiny as to whether or not she was reversed-racist, reversed-sexist, or biased, all of which she denied.

Sotomayor soon began work as an assistant district attorney after graduating. She entered private practice and made partner at Pavia &Harcourt in 1984. In 1992, George H.W. Bush nominated Sonia for the position of U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of New York City and was confirmed unanimously. She later became U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals by President William Clinton in 1998. In 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Sonia for the position of Supreme Court Justice. It was later confirmed and she became the first Latina Supreme Court Justice in history. Sonia is the epitome of the American dream, or rags-to-riches.

Logos

Sotomayor delivers several statistics and factual data. She gives percentages of the Latino and female population within the federal judiciary.

"As of September 1, 2001, the federal judiciary consisting of Supreme, Circuit and District Court Judges was about 22% women. In 1992, nearly ten years ago, when I was first appointed a District Court Judge, the percentage of women in the total federal judiciary was only 13%. Now, the growth of Latino representation is somewhat less favorable. As of today we have, as I noted earlier, no Supreme Court justices, and we have only 10 out of 147 active Circuit Court judges and 30 out of 587 active district court judges. Those numbers are grossly below our proportion of the population. As recently as 1965, however, the federal bench had only three women serving and only one Latino judge. So changes are happening, although in some areas, very slowly. These figures and appointments are heartwarming. Nevertheless, much still remains to happen."

"A Rhetorical Flourish"

A Latina Judge's Voice

Although "A Latina Judge's Voice” was not rich in rhetorical devices, Sotomayor is fully aware of the three appeals and how to use them...for the most part. In the following video, Sonia faces the allegations and attempts to clear the air by dubbing her infamous quote a "rhetorical flourish" meaning it was an expression used solely for the rhetorical effect.

Sotomayor's speech, written in 2001, called "A Latina Judge's Voice" was published in 2002 in the Spring issue of Berkeley La Raza Law Journal. An issue dedicated to Latinos entitled "Raising the Bar: Latino and Latina Presence in the Judiciary and the Struggle for Representation".In her lecture, Sotomayor articulates the idea that the judge's race and gender will cause them to be biased in their decisions and suggests these are only various perspectives and should be embraced.

"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."– Sonia Sotomayor

The Three Appeals

Pathos

Family Life

"For me, a very special part of my being Latina is the mucho platos de arroz, gandoles y pernir - rice, beans and pork - that I have eaten at countless family holidays and special events. My Latina identity also includes, because of my particularly adventurous taste buds, morcilla, -- pig intestines, patitas de cerdo con garbanzo -- pigs' feet with beans, and la lengua y orejas de cuchifrito, pigs' tongue and ears. I bet the Mexican-Americans in this room are thinking that Puerto Ricans have unusual food tastes. Some of us, like me, do. Part of my Latina identity is the sound of merengue at all our family parties and the heart wrenching Spanish love songs that we enjoy. It is the memory of Saturday afternoon at the movies with my aunt and cousins watching Cantinflas, who is not Puerto Rican, but who was an icon Spanish comedian on par with Abbot and Costello of my generation. My Latina soul was nourished as I visited and played at my grandmother's house with my cousins and extended family. They were my friends as I grew up. Being a Latina child was watching the adults playing dominos on Saturday night and us kids playing loteria, bingo, with my grandmother calling out the numbers which we marked on our cards with chick peas."

Sotomayor makes it very clear that she is a woman of Latino heritage and by reciting the foods she was accustomed to eating, she off-the-bat establishes an emotional connection and trust with the Latinos in the audience, Puerto Rican or not.

In the South Bronx area in New York City, Sotomayor was born on June 24th, 1954. Her parents, Juan and Celina, moved from Puerto Rico to New York City to raise their family of five, Sonia being the eldest of two children, on an average income. Her father passed away when she was only nine years old. After the death of her father, Sonia's mother worked hard to provide for their family as a single mother, emphasizing the importance of pursuing higher education and becoming fluent in English.

A Wise Latina Woman

Sonia Sotomayor

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