Sonia Sotomayor Biography: (First female Hispanic Supreme Court Nominie)
Sonia Sotomayor (born June 25, 1954) is a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. On May 26, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Judge Sotomayor for appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice David Souter.
Early life and family
Sotomayor was born in The Bronx, New York, to Puerto Rican parents. She grew up in a housing project in the South Bronx, a short walk from Yankee Stadium. She was diagnosed with diabetes at age 8. Her father, a tool-and-die worker with a third-grade education, died the following year. Her mother, a nurse, raised Sotomayor and her younger brother, who is now a doctor. In 1976 Sotomayor married while still a student at Princeton University and divorced in 1983. Her mother has remarried.
Education and early legal career
Sotomayor graduated from Cardinal Spellman High School in the Bronx. She earned her A.B. from Princeton University, summa cum laude, in 1976, where she won the Pyne Prize, the highest general award given to Princeton undergraduates.[7] Sotomayor obtained her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1979, where she was an editor of the Yale Law Journal. Sotomayor then served as an Assistant District Attorney under prominent New York County District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, prosecuting robberies, assaults, murders, police brutality, and child pornography cases. In 1984, she entered private practice, making partner at the commercial litigation firm of Pavia & Harcourt, where she specialized in intellectual property litigation.
Federal judicial service
Considered a political centrist by the American Bar Association Journal and others, Sotomayor was nominated on November 27, 1991, by President George H. W. Bush to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York vacated by John M. Walker, Jr. She became the youngest judge in the Southern District[13] and the first Hispanic federal judge anywhere in New York State.[14]
It is the longstanding practice in most states, including New York, for home-state senators of both parties to play roles in recommending individuals for federal District Court judgeships.[15] According to a blog post by conservative activist Ed Whelan, Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York suggested Sotomayor’s name to President Bush and Bush appointed centrist Sotomayor in a deal that allowed a conservative judge to be appointed as well.[16] Sotomayor was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 11, 1992, and received her commission the next day.
On March 30, 1995, she issued the preliminary injunction against Major League Baseball, preventing MLB from unilaterally implementing a new Collective Bargaining Agreement and using replacement players, thus ending the 1994 baseball strike.[4][17] In another high-profile case, she issued an order allowing the Wall Street Journal to publish Vince Foster’s suicide note.[18]
Confirmation as Court of Appeals Judge
On June 25, 1997, she was nominated by former President Bill Clinton to the seat she now holds, which was vacated by J. Daniel Mahoney. Her nomination was approved overwhelmingly by the Senate Judiciary Committee, but became “embroiled in the sometimes tortured judicial politics of the Senate,” as some Republicans said they did not want to consider the nomination because elevating Sotomayor to the Appeals Court would enhance her prospects of being appointed to the Supreme Court.[19][20] An anonymous senator put a secret hold on her nomination, blocking it for over a year. Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy called the length of the hold “disturbing,” “petty,” and “shameful,” also noting that at that time, “[o]f the 10 judicial nominees whose nominations have been pending the longest before the Senate, eight are women and racial or ethnic minority candidates.”[21]
In 1998, several Hispanic organizations organized a petition drive in New York State, generating hundreds of signatures from New Yorkers to try to convince New York Republican Senator Al D’Amato to push the Senate leadership to bring Sotomayor’s nomination to a vote.[22] Her nomination had been pending for over a year when Majority Leader Trent Lott scheduled the vote. Many Republicans, including then-Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch and six other Republicans who are still in the Senate today, voted for Sotomayor’s confirmation to the Second Circuit.[19] With solid Democratic support, and support from about half of Republicans, Sotomayor was confirmed on October 2, 1998, in a 67-29 vote[23], and she received her commission on October 7.
Awards and honors
Sotomayor has received honorary degrees from Lehman College, Princeton University, Brooklyn Law School, Pace University School of Law, Hofstra University,[24] and Northeastern University.[25] She was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2002.[25]
Other activities
While in private practice, Sotomayor was appointed in 1988 as one of the founding members of the New York City Campaign Finance Board, where she served for four years.[26] She has also been a member of the Board of Directors of the State of New York Mortgage Agency (SONYMA), the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the foundation then known as the Maternity Center Association (now called Childbirth Connection).[27]
Sotomayor was an Adjunct Professor at New York University School of Law from 1998 to 2007 and has been a lecturer-in-law at Columbia Law School since 1999.[27] She is a member of the Board of Trustees of Princeton University and a longtime fan of the New York Yankees.[17]
Previous rulings
Abortion
In Center for Reproductive Law and Policy v. Bush,[38] Sotomayor upheld the Bush administration’s implementation of the “Mexico City Policy” which requires foreign organizations receiving U.S. funds to “neither perform nor actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations”. Sotomayor held that the policy did not constitute a violation of equal protection, as the government “is free to favor the anti-abortion position over the pro-choice position, and can do so with public funds”.[39]
Civil rights
While on the Circuit Court, one of Sotomayor’s most high-profile cases held that the city of New Haven could disregard the scores on a promotional test for firefighters, because almost no minorities qualified for promotions. The case was recently heard by the U.S. Supreme Court as Ricci v. DeStefano,[42] but a ruling has not yet been issued.