ConfirmThem

By AndrewHyman Posted in SCOTUS — Comments () / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Slate says here and here that Supreme Court Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo was Hispanic. But that's just wrong. Cardozo was not Hispanic, nor was he Latino.

Admittedly, this is not a critical issue, and it wouldn't normally be of much interest. But, confirmthem now pounces on this timely question, and finds that the answer is straightforward. The Federal Judicial Center is correct to not list Justice Cardozo as Hispanic, and is also correct to list Judge Emilio Garza as Hispanic.

Cardozo was born in New York City, and his ancestors were Sephardic Jews who immigrated to the United States in the 1740s and 1750s from Portugal (after first moving to the Netherlands and England). So that brings us to the question of whether a Portuguese Sephardic Jew is “Hispanic." No way Jose. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, we have this definition of the word “Hispanic":

ADJECTIVE: 1. Of or relating to Spain or Spanish-speaking Latin America. 2. Of or relating to a Spanish-speaking people or culture.

NOUN: 1. A Spanish-speaking person. 2. A U.S. citizen or resident of Latin-American or Spanish descent.

Last time I checked, Portugal is not part of Latin America nor part of Spain. Neither is the Portuguese language the same as the Spanish language. Cardozo may have happened to know Spanish, but that was not his primary language.

Moreover, if Cardozo’s ancestors had been from Spain instead of Portugal, he might be considered “Hispanic" but still could not be considered “Latino." Here's why, according to Wikipedia:

Hispanic … specifically refers to Spain and the Spanish-speaking nations of the Americas, as cultural and demographic extension of european colonial Spain. Meanwhile, Latinos are only those from the countries of Latin America, whether Spanish or Portuguese-speaking….The one exception for a Brazilian to be considered Hispanic is if his ancestry was Spanish rather than Portuguese.

Got that straight? So, if President Bush should someday appoint Miguel Estrada, Emilio Garza, or (heaven forbid) Alberto Gonzales to the Supreme Court, don't let anyone fool you. That would be the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court, and also the first Latino on the Supreme Court. It would be extraordinary. Comprende?

UPDATE: There's tons more about this issue here, including this:

In Portugal….[they] never say Portuguese people are Hispanic because after centuries of fighting the Spaniards, and being their rivals, it would be almost an insult to the individuality of their culture, or simply, something innaccurate.

The word "Hispanic" comes from "Hispania" which was the name for the whole peninsula at the time of the Roman Empire, and of course the peninsula now includes both Portugal and Spain. However, after the fall of the Roman empire, the "Hispania" peninsula stopped being "Hispania" and was called "Iberia" until the present. Portugal was founded in 1139. Over 350 years later, Spain was founded, and at that time they needed a name; they remembered that the peninsula had previously been called "Hispania" and so they adopted that as the new name of their new country, which from then until now has only occupied part of the peninsula.

Note that Slate's original source misspelled "Cardozo" and confused Hispania with Hispaniola.

Like I said, there has never been a Hispanic U.S. Supreme Court Justice, despite Slate's assertion in their article (which can be accessed by clicking on the following Slate image).

UPDATE #2: The Washington Post says that Cardozo was not Hispanic.

UPDATE #3: More info here.