From National Journal's July 11 issue:

Sonia Sotomayor has repeatedly said that female and minority judges should over time issue more-compassionate and caring courtroom decisions than white males, but a review of two decades' worth of legal and scientific literature shows that gender and race may not have a significant influence on verdicts. In fact, research finds little difference in decisions made by men and women even though those decisions can be reached in different ways by each gender.

Judge Sotomayor has over the years consistently presented her view that gender and race certainly could, and probably should, affect the way judges make decisions, if only because women and minorities are likely to have had different experiences than their white male counterparts. In a 2001 speech at the University of California (Berkeley), she said, "Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences, a possibility I abhor less or discount less than my colleague [U.S. District Court Judge Miriam] Cedarbaum, our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging."

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