Who Wears The Robe

First: An apologizing I've been cheating on this blog not with Facebook lol but with Twitter, in any event I've been unfaithful lol and I've got to do better.

Lisenting To: "I've Got A Testimony" from Going Up Yonder: The Best of Gospel Choirs cd

Kind of watching "The Brothers" on HBO

As I write this it's about 1:47 a.m. on the morning of July 13.

In just a few hours I aim to get up to begin watching the confirmation hearings of the Honorable Sonia Sotomayor of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals who was several weeks ago nominated by President Barack Obama to be the first Hispanic to serve on the nation's highest court.

For me it'll be a very fascinating day. Jeffrey Toobin CNN's senior legal correspondent said it's the nerd Superbowl. Yes I am a nerd but, at the same time these confirmation hearings will have a special significance to me.

Years ago while in elementary school I studied the life of Thurgood Marshall who was the first African-American to sit on the nation's highest court. I once aspired to follow in the footsteps to follow in the footsteps of that pioneering Baltimore native.

I knew even then the significance of a Supreme Court justice's and being one of nine of the people who got to interpret the laws of the nation. No, Supreme Court justices don't get to craft the laws or enfroce them, but to interpret them thus offering an importance balance making sure that neither the executive or legislative branch oversteps their bounds.

My respect for the balancing act that they must perform has not ceased.

But after eight years of aspiring to one day land on the federal bench, my mind changed. At age 18 I said instead of joining the judicial branch, I'd become a member of the fourth estate and report on our government and our world.

As someone who has watched the court with a fascination and curiousity I know it does matter who gets to wear the robe. Whether the average person realizes or not the decisions reached by the "nine wise souls" does matter in the lives of average Americans.

As people our lives are spent working to attain that which we desire, but we can't ever have those privileges, without certain rights. No we all don't get to have all we want, but what we should all be given is the opportunity to do what we must to have what we want.

So will she, or won't she get to wear the robe?

That is the question.