Sonia Sotomayor

On August 6th, 2009, Sonia Sotomayor was sworn-in as the first Latina Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.  Previously Sotomayor served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit for eleven years. With a distinguished career spanning three decades, Justice Sotomayor has worked at almost every level of the U. S. judicial system yielding a depth of experience and breadth of perspectives that is invaluable on our highest court. She has brought more federal judicial experience to the Supreme Court than any justice in 100 years, and more overall judicial experience than anyone confirmed for the Court in the past 70 years.

Born to a Puerto Rican family, Sonia grew up in public housing in the South Bronx. Her parents moved to New York during World War II. Her mother served in the Women’s Auxiliary Corps during the war. Her father, a factory worker with a third-grade education, died when Sotomayor was nine years old. Her mother, a nurse, then raised Sotomayor and her younger brother, Juan, now a physician.

At an early age, her mother instilled in Sonia and her brother a belief in the power of education. Driven by an indefatigable work ethic, and rising to the challenge of managing a diagnosis of juvenile diabetes, Sotomayor excelled in school.  She graduated as valedictorian of her class at Blessed Sacrament and at Cardinal Spellman High School in New York.

Justice Sotomayor is a graduate of Princeton and Yale. At Princeton she graduated summa cum laude, and Phi Beta Kappa. She was a co-recipient of the M. Taylor Pyne Prize, the highest honor Princeton awards to an undergraduate. At Yale Law School, Justice Sotomayor served as editor of the Yale Law Journal. She has been a prosecutor and a corporate litigator. Before she was promoted to the Second Circuit by President Clinton, she was appointed to the District Court for the Southern District of New York by President George H.W. Bush.

Besides being a sharp and fair jurist, Justice Sotomayor is deeply committed to her family and community.  She is a doting aunt and attentive godmother.  She speaks to her mother daily. She recruited judges to join her in inviting young women to the courthouse on Take Your Daughter to Work Day, and mentors young students from troubled neighborhoods.  Her favorite project is the Development School for Youth program, which sponsors workshops for inner city high school students that teach them how to function in a work setting.  Sotomayor herself conducts a workshop on the law for 25 to 35 students.

She served as a member of the Second Circuit Task Force on Gender, Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts and served on various boards including the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund.

(Adapted from The White House Press Release, Office of the Press Secretary, May 26, 2009)

Honored by the Sonia Sotomayor Swearing-in Celebration Committee