The Code of Conduct for United States Judges Canon 2 (C) clearly states the following:
Nondiscriminatory Membership. A judge should not hold membership in any organization that practices invidious discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, or national origin.
The theory is as follows: a judge is supposed to be impartial and all people are supposed to be equal in the eyes of the law. This is the belief behind the notion of "Blind Justice."
Despite this, Judge Sotomayor was a member of The Belizean Grove, a group that describes itself as an answer to the "old-boys network" of the Bohemian Grove:
"Having observed the power of the Bohemian Grove, a 130-year-old, elite old boys' network of former Presidents, businessmen, military, musicians, academics, and non-profit leaders, and realizing that women didn't have a similar organization, Susan Stautberg and 26 other founding members created the Belizean Grove, a constellation of influential women who are key decision makers in the profit, non-profit and social sectors; who build long term mutually beneficial relationships in order to both take charge of their own destinies and help others to do the same."
Sounds to me like it's an all-womens' group. This in itself is not a problem - we live in a country that permits freedom of association. But a judge should be impartial and not be a member of a group that discriminates. Could you imagine the backlash if Justice Scalia was a member of an all-men's group? He'd be run out of town.
Since this story came out, Sotomayor defended her membershipin The Belezian Grove and then quit the group a few days later. This is strikingly similar to the countless other Obama nominees who did not pay taxes only to pay them after they were nominated to a high-level governmental post. What sort of message does this send to the American people?
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