Quite a lot has been made about balancing out the Supreme Court and appointing a woman/minority to break the all-white-male majority it has seen for centuries.

Sotomayor was questioned extensively about her ethnicity by both sides of the aisle and whether it would affect her judgment, which she said would not in the capacity of interpreting the law.

If all SC Justices are supposed to put their race, experience, and personal history aside when hearing a case and only look within the confines of the law, why is the race or gender of the Justice important at all? In other words, why is "balancing" the racial and gender makeup of the court important if that very issue, in theory, does not influence a Justice's ability to serve and make rulings based on the law?

This question is not about Sotomayor's qualifications. She is far and away a good left-of-center candidate. This is a question about whether Obama (or anyone for that matter) put too much emphasis on race and gender when selecting a candidate and forcing a balance to the Court.