U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in her writing to illuminate the high court’s denial of a petition for writ of certiorari in a Texas case, issued a statement to dispel any doubt that her colleagues’ refusal to hear the case signals "our tolerance of a federal prosecutor’s racially charged remark. It should not."
In her Feb. 25 statement in Bongani Charles Calhoun v. United States, Sotomayor recounted how Calhoun, who is African-American, stood trial in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas for participating in a drug conspiracy. The primary issue in the case was whether Calhoun knew that the friend with whom he was traveling, and his friend’s associates, were about to engage in a drug transaction or whether Calhoun was merely present during the group’s drive home when they attempted to purchase drugs from undercover Drug Enforcement Agency agents. According to Sotomayor’s statement, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas asked Calhoun on cross-examination: "You’ve got African-Americans, you’ve got Hispanics, you’ve got a bag full of money. Does that tell you a light bulb doesn’t go off in your head and say, ‘This is a drug deal?’ " Sotomayor does not identify the prosecutor.
