APA Newsletters NEWSLETTER ON HISPANIC/LATINO ISSUES IN PHILOSOPHY Volume 09, Number 1 Fall 2009 FROM THE EDITOR, BERNARDO J. CANTEÑS ARTICLES EDUARDO MENDIETA “The Unfinished Constitution: The Education of the Supreme Court” JORGE J. E. GRACIA “Sotomayor on the Interpretation of the Law: Why She is Right for the Supreme Court” SUZANNE OBOLER “The Ironies of History: Puerto Rico’s Status and the Nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor” ANGELO CORLETT “A Wise Latina” LINDA MARTÍN ALCOFF “Sotomayor’s Reasoning” MINERVA AHUMADA TORRES “Aztec Metaphysics: Poetry in Orphanhood” ALEJANDRO SANTANA “The Aztec Conception of Time” CAROL J. MOELLER “Minoritized Thought: Open Questions of Latino/a and Latin-American Philosophies” BOOK REVIEW Edwina Barvosa, Wealth of Selves: Multiple Identities, Mestiza Consciousness, and the Subject of Politics REVIEWED BY AGNES CURRY SUBMISSIONS CONTRIBUTORS © 2009 by The American Philosophical Association APA NEWSLETTER ON Hispanic/Latino Issues in Philosophy Bernardo J. Canteñs, Editor Fall 2009 Volume 09, Number 1 Angelo Corlett’s “A Wise Latina” takes on this criticism by first ROM THE DITOR placing the statement within the context of the larger text, and F E then going on to argue for the common sense and innocuous nature of the claim once it is properly interpreted and correctly understood. Finally, Sotomayor’s nomination raises the This edition of the Newsletter includes a series of essays on question of social identity and rationality, and their complex the nomination of Sonia María Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme epistemological relationship. Linda Alcoff argues cogently Court. Sotomayor was nominated by President Barack Obama that our experiences and social identity are an important and to the Supreme Court on May 26, 2009, to replace Justice David relevant part of how we “judge relevance, coherence, and Scouter. If she is confirmed, she will be the first Hispanic/Latina plausibility, that is, how we reason.” She notes, however, that and third woman justice. The significance of having a Latina in cases where our experiences are intimately connected to and Puerto Rican in the Supreme Court can be viewed and our identity, the high epistemological value that is commonly analyzed from various perspectives. First, we should consider attributed to personal experience is degraded and debased, as the effect of Sotomayor’s nomination on the status of Hispanics/ in the case of racism, sexism, or homophobia. Alcoff notes that Latinos/as as citizens with equal rights and who deserve equal this uncanny epistemological paradox concerning experience justice under the law. Eduardo Mendieta, in “The Unfinished in the context of social identity is a phenomenon that requires Constitution: The Education of the Supreme Court,” argues more analysis and investigation on the part of philosophers. that Sotomayor’s nomination and hopeful confirmation to the This edition of the Newsletter also includes three articles. U.S. Supreme Court will usher a robust sense of inclusiveness In the first essay, “Aztec Metaphysics: Poetry in Orphanhood,” among U.S. Latinos/as in the “We” that serves as the core of U.S. Bertha Minerva Ahumada defends the thesis that the Aztecs identity, purging Latinos of the feeling of living a second-class were engaged in philosophical thinking, as the contemplation citizenship. Second, Sotomayor’s nomination can be viewed of being, primarily through their poetry. The paradigmatic from a legal dimension, questioning what the proper role of conception of philosophy she relies on for her argument is a judge is in interpreting laws and whether a judge’s race, Heidegger’s metaphysics of Being. Ahumada analyzes one ethnicity, and gender ought to affect her legal interpretation of poem that appears in a collection named icnocuicatl and the Constitution. According to Jorge J. E. Gracia, in “Sotomayor whose authorship has been attributed to Nezahualcoyotl. on the Interpretation of the Law: Why She is Right for the Through the analysis of this poem, Ahumada goes on to Supreme Court,” two central criticisms have been charged compare and contrast Aztec thought with Greek thought, against Sotomayor: (1) that Sotomayor makes law when using Heideggerian philosophy as the principle intermediary she issues juridical decisions, and (2) that her condition as between the two cultures. In the second article, “The Aztec a woman and Latina affects her juridical decisions. Gracia Conception of Time,” Alejandro Santana questions whether argues that these criticisms are unfounded because they rely an understanding of the Aztec conception of time as cyclical is on false assumptions. Moreover, he argues that in a democratic coherent and complete. He argues that the Aztec conception nation united by laws for the common good, “it is important of time, while cyclical in many of its manifestations, ultimately that those who are designated interpreters of the law of the depends on a linear model similar to the West. In the third nation reflect the composition of the nation and the cumulative essay, “Minoritized Thought: Open Questions of Latino/a and experiences of its citizens.” A third perspective of Sotomayor’s Latin-American Philosophies,” Carol Moeller reflects on how nomination concerns her national identity as a Puerto Rican. issues and discussions pertinent to minority studies are relevant Suzanne Oboler’s “The Ironies of History: Puerto Rico’s Status to Hispanic/Latino/a Studies and Latin American Philosophy. and the Nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor” addresses Moeller uses Elizabeth Kamarck Minnich’s critique of how this historic event within the context of the tumultuous and mainstream philosophy excludes alternative ways of doing complex historical relationship between Puerto Rico (as the philosophy and marginalizes these “unconventional” ways of colonized) and the U.S. (as the colonizer). Oboler explores how thought to an inferior class of philosophy. She argues that many we are to understand the ironic fact “that a representative of the of these same errors are responsible for the past and sustained colonized will be defining and determining the future laws of the absence of Latin American Philosophy from mainstream colonizer.” A fourth and more controversial dimension concerns philosophical circles. a statement Sotomayor made on various occasions but most notably at a Berkeley Law Lecture in 2001: “I would hope that Finally, Agnes Curry offers us a critical review of Wealth a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences of Selves: Multiple Identities, Mestiza Consciousness, and the would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a Subject of Politics by Edwina Barvosa (College Station: Texas white male who hasn’t lived that life.” Some conservatives have A&M University Press, 2008). criticized her comment as being racist, and some have gone so far as to question Sotomayor’s objectivity and ability to serve as a Supreme Court justice solely based on this statement. — APA Newsletter, Fall 2009, Volume 09, Number 1 — Committee on Hispanics Above the sixteen marble columns that support the Committee Chair architrave of the west entrance to the Supreme Court’s building are carved unadorned four resounding words: “EQUAL P-Eduardo Mendieta (2011) JUSTICE UNDER LAW.” The words are in clear and plain font Department of Philosophy English—not Latin, not Greek, not Hebrew, not any of the so- 213 Harriman Hall called holy languages. The building is set atop marble steps State University of New York–Stony Brook and it is crowned by a frieze that is reminiscent of a Greek Stony Brook, NY 11799-3750 temple. We ascend the steps towards justice, with our eyes fixed on those unambiguous words: “EQUAL”—we all are; [email protected] “JUSTICE”—we all deserve it and can claim it; “UNDER”—we Committee Members dwell as citizens under a moral and legal canopy created by E-Jesús Aguilar (2009) humans, as mortals dwell under the heaven with its supreme E-Agnes Curry (2010) legislator, the all benign and just God; “LAW”—law, not force, C-Greg Gilson (2011) not fiat, not privilege, one made by humans, lawyers, justices, and not gods, churches, parties, or oligarchies. Walking up those S-Renzo Llorente (2011) steps, as I have, gives one chills to think of what that means: C-Gregory Pappas (2010) that we live under a government in which the laws are made C-Steve Tammelleo (2009) by other human beings, human beings who, like all of us, have C-Sheryl Tuttle-Ross (2009) personal, family, ethnic, and racial histories, but who, when they P-Gregory Velazco y Trianosky (2009) deliberate about how to interpret the Constitution, and thus all the powers of the branches, they do so in a definitive and C-Bernie Cantens (ex-officio) generative way. When the Supreme Court rules, the “legitimacy” The editor of the Newsletter on Hispanic/Latino Issues serves of the law of the land is spoken. The Supreme Court then rules in an ex officio capacity on this Committee. on whether the laws that Congress makes are both “legal” and “legitimate.” In this way, the law of the land is always under scrutiny. The law is made, not received; it is also revisable and revocable, because it may be “unjust.” The law is perfectible, ARTICLES though never perfect. Yet, the coevalness and co-equality of the Supreme Court was not always this clear and evident. When Washington was designed to be the capital of the new republic, the Capitol and the White House were in the original designs. The Unfinished Constitution: The Education The Supreme Court, however, was not assigned a building. It of the Supreme Court was not until 1935 that the Court was granted its own building by Congress, 146 years after its establishment. Eduardo Mendieta Over the duration of its co-evolution with the other Stony Brook University (SUNY) branches, the Supreme Court has also learned about its powers and limits.