U.S. Supreme Court nominee also member of Belizean Grove

Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court is still up in the air. Her confirmation hearings are scheduled for mid-July. But now there is one more kink in her way. The judge has been attracting much attention recently for her membership in an exclusive women’s club. It turns out that the Supreme Court nominee belongs to an association called the Belizean Grove, and members of the organization describe themselves as a group of influential women, who build advantageous relationships “to both take charge of their own destinies and help others do the same.” You may wonder what is it that this elite organization, based in New York, has to do with Belize. Well, one thing this association gets attention for is the retreats on which its members go. It’s first such trip was in Belize, and that earned the group its namesake. There has been harsh criticism on the Supreme Court contender for belonging to Belizean Grove because federal judges are bound by a code that prevents their membership in organizations that discriminate by race, sex, religion or nationality. On Monday, Sotomayor told senators that the group doesn’t discriminate unfairly by gender and includes men in many of its activities. Several members of the group returned to Belize as recently as January of 2009.