Today I wrote about a speech that Judge Sonia Sotomayor gave in 2001 at the University of California, Berkeley about her background as Latina and the influence she perceived it had had on her.

It was an interesting speech, even if I am not sure I agree with some of her conclusions. How do we reconcile these competing demands, she asked: that we live in a race and color-blind way while celebrating our differences? It’s a topic we all wrestle with, whether you’re a detractor claiming that she practices identity politics or a supporter who believes she’s got it just right.

Her speech is getting a lot of attention mostly for this line: “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion that a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”

Commentators such as George Will are already denouncing her for embracing identity politics. He wrote: “And like conventional liberals, she embraces identity politics, including the idea of categorical representation: A person is what his or her race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual preference is, and members of a particular category can be represented—understood, empathized with—only by persons of the same identity.”

But in that same speech Sotomayor also said: “I … believe that we should not be so myopic as to believe that others of different experiences or backgrounds are incapable of understanding the values and needs of people from a different group. Many are so capable. As Judge (Miriam) Cedarbaum pointed out to me, nine white men on the Supreme Court in the past have done so on many occasions and on many issues including Brown.”

Quite the opposite of what Will wrote, because her beliefs appear to more nuanced than many of the commentators would suggest.

For example, she writes that she accepts that her gender and heritage would in some ways influence her judging but also says: “I willingly accept that we who judge must not deny the differences resulting from experience and heritage but attempt, as the Supreme Court suggest, continuously to judge when those opinions, sympathies and prejudices are appropriate.”

But judge for yourself. Here’s her speech.

PHOTO: Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor smiles as President Barack Obama applauds yesterday in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)