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Judge and Jury
Te TIME’s cover package on Sonia Sotomayor [June 8]: I fully agree with Sotomayor’s 2001 statement that she “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.” It is entirely possible for two jurists to arrive at an identical conclusion in a case, yet if one of them has considered more options and deliberated more over the issues, that jurist will have made the “wiser, more informed” decision. Sotomayor’s background will automatically strengthen her consideration of legal issues — something that will escape some other jurist who has not had the experience of being a minority.
Kerman Bharucha,
webster, n.y., u.s.

I’m amazed by the double standard being used for Sotomayor. George W. Bush suspends constitutional rights to catch terrorists and is labeled evil and un-American. Sotomayor suspends constitutional rights to catch sex offenders and is said to be “empathetic” to the problems of police officers. Is it acceptable or unacceptable to ignore constitutional rights?
Bryan Smith,
Tucson, Ariz., U.S.

I was somewhat stunned to see the words “Latina Justice” screaming at me from the cover of your magazine. If you don’t feel that this is racist, substitute the word white for Latina. Would you have used those words if Obama’s choice was white?
Robert Bogisich,
Glen Iris, Australia

The article included a disparaging remark: “Nobody expects you to make it to Princeton when you come from a public-housing project.” I grew up in the 1960s in a public-housing project in Brooklyn, N.Y. Although I did my graduate work at Georgetown, and not Princeton, several of the kids in our project did go on to Ivy League colleges. A lot of kids who grow up rich never learn to develop their minds or work as hard as the “underprivileged” kids.
Lisa Beth Durham,
Ollon, Switzerland

Stout Defense
Thanks for Joe Klein’s “Gates Unbound,” on Secretary of Defense Robert Gates [June 8]. Finally, someone who is putting the troops first.
Jack Quartaroli,
Sacramento, Calif., U.S.

Gates is a pragmatic professional. Al-Qaeda had already committed four separate acts of war against the U.S. before George W. Bush was sworn in. The ideology-based policy of that incoming Administration downgraded the project to “get bin Laden,” so FBI information about suspicious flying lessons stayed in the field until after 9/11. If counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke had had such intel when it was fresh, there might have been time to figure out the plot and forestall the attacks. Novelist Tom Clancy, after all, published the idea in 1994. Unlike the rest of the Bush Administration, Gates — the best Secretary of Defense since George C. Marshall, if not ever — has kept us safe since being sworn in.
David P. Vernon,
Tucson, Ariz., U.S.

Credit Where It’s Due
I have been a subscriber for almost 40 years and rarely have I been as disappointed with the magazine as I was with your paltry single page devoted to the Indian elections [June 1]. And it was a page that belittled India’s achievement in holding the world’s largest ever election, with minimal disruption and violence, and no controversies (à la hanging or pregnant chads). This election is a beacon of hope in a region that only seems to produce bad news from Nepal to Sri Lanka, Afghanistan to Burma. No wonder India is so disillusioned with the attitudes of the West. Like most people, Indians have long memories. One day, the West will come to rue this indifference toward a country that is one of very few true democracies outside Europe and North America.
Alex Joseph,
Patterson Lakes, Australia

Is democracy effective in India? there is always the inevitable comparison with China, which has progressed spectacularly in spite of a vast, impoverished population and an absence of democracy. China’s advantage is its far more homogeneous society and its single-party rule, which can easily suppress any social dissent and move rapidly on any project. Also, China learned the lessons of Mao-era excesses and made necessary course corrections. Similarly India has understood the errors of its socialist beginnings, which suppressed private enterprise in all fields at the cost of developing human resources and infrastructure. But India, too, has made its course correction and the result has been the rapid economic growth of recent years. Indian democracy is essential for its highly fragmented society. But it can never be as decisive or quick as the Chinese government, since it encounters conflicting demands from all corners, from the judiciary, from politicians and from civil society and activists. They may stymie state planners, but the strength of their participation will still guarantee progress.
Venkatraja U. Rao,
Mumbai