It ought to be one of those SAT questions that tests whether a high school senior can make simple deductions without being distracted by irrelevant information.

1. Which weighs more?

     (A)  a pound of feathers
     (B)  half a pound of lead

2. Which is worth more?

     (A)  a dollar’s worth of tin
     (B)  a nickel’s worth of gold

3. Which is wiser?

     (A)  a wise Hispanic woman
     (B)  an unwise white man

And then several months later a red-faced parent stands up at the school board meeting, waves his son’s lousy SAT scores in the air, and insists that the right answer to question 3 is B and anyone here who thinks the answer is A is clearly a racist.

(Here’s Sotomayor’s remark in its context.)