Question

Read the excerpt from "A Latina Judge’s Voice” by Sonia Sotomayor.

In at least the last five years the majority of nominated judges the Senate delayed more than one year before confirming or never confirming were women or minorities. I need not remind this audience that Judge Paez of your home Circuit, the Ninth Circuit, has had the dubious distinction of having had his confirmation delayed the longest in Senate history.

Which rhetorical device does Sotomayor use to show that there is a need for more equality in the judicial system?

antithesis
irony
metonymy
zeugma

Answer 1

Irony.

Sotomayor points out the contradiction between the ideal of equal treatment and the reality that most long-delayed nominees are women or minorities (calling a negative outcome a “dubious distinction”), highlighting the gap between expectation and reality.