
Sonia Sotomayor
Supreme Court justice
From age 10, the Bronx-raised Sonia Sotomayor knew she would go into the law. Her passion and determination brought her from New York ADA to Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court ~ the first Latina to serve on the nation's leading bench.
Sonia's job is to preserve the law, but she has also fought to make it more just as a vocal advocate for civil rights and affirmative action. Born to Puerto-Rican immigrants, Sonia has not only lived the American Dream but also lived to make it more accessible for all.
being the 1st Hispanic US Supreme Court Justice {+ the 3rd female}
top honors as a student | valedictorian at her high school, summa cum laude at Princeton where she earned a full-ride scholarship and the prestigious Pyne award for academic + extra-curricular achievement
honorary degrees galore | for example ~ from Princeton, Brooklyn Law School, Pace School of Law, Hofstra University, Howard University, New York University, Yale University and the University of Puerto Rico
being a proud "Nuyorican" | a native New Yorker who grew up in a Puerto Rican household
public service | left a partnership at a prosperous legal firm to become a federal judge
1992 | nominated by President George H.W. Bush to the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, leading to her 1st appointment as a federal judge {and the youngest in the Southern District}
2009 | nominated by President Barack Obama to be a US Supreme Court Justice
2013 | put out a best-selling memoir, My Beloved World, and was recognized with the Woodrow Wilson Award at Princeton
from | to
the 10-year-old Bronx girl who just knew she "was going to become an attorney" | a justice in the court at the very top of the nation's judicial system
born on
June 25, 1954
born in
The Bronx, New York, New York
birth name
Sonia Maria Sotomayor
nickname | also known as
Associate Justice
citizen of
The United States of America
daughter of
Juan Sotomayor + Celina Baez
~ Puerto Rican immigrants ~
sister of
1 younger brother | Juan Sotomayor
~ physician + professor ~
grew up in
Bronx, New York
lives in
Washington, DC + Greenwich Village, New York City
educated at
Cardinal Spellman High School
~ The Bronx, New York ~
Princeton
~ BA | 1976 ~
Yale Law School
~ JD | 1979 ~
loved studying
forensics
history + Latin American studies
law
divorced from
Kevin Noonan, married 1976 - 1983
~ her high school sweetheart | a biologist + patent lawyer ~
advocate for
affirmative action
Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund
Latino rights + empowerment
in her spare time
cheers on the New York Yankees
attends theater + the ballet
"No matter how liberal I am, I'm still outraged by crimes of violence. Regardless of whether I can sympathize with the causes that lead these individuals to do these crimes, the effects are outrageous."
The D.A.'s Right Arms | november 1983
"Each day on the bench I learn something new about the judicial process and about being a professional Latina woman in a world that sometimes looks at me with suspicion."
A Latina Judge's Voice | october 2001
"There is always a danger embedded in relative morality, but since judging is a series of choices that we must make, that I am forced to make, I hope that I can make them by informing myself on the questions I must not avoid asking and continuously pondering."
A Latina Judge's Voice | october 2001
"The aspiration to impartiality is just that—it's an aspiration because it denies the fact that we are by our experiences making different choices than others."
A Latina Judge's Voice | october 2001
"I am reminded each day that I render decisions that affect people concretely and that I owe them constant and complete vigilance in checking my assumptions, presumptions and perspectives."
A Latina Judge's Voice | october 2001
"It's not the heart that compels conclusions in cases. It's the law."
Confirmation Hearing | july 2009
"Pretending to be a princess is fun, but it is definitely not a career."
Sesame Street | november 2012
"I would warn any minority student today against the temptations of self-segregation: Take support and comfort from your own group as you can, but don't hide within it."
My Beloved World | january 2013
"If the system is broken, my inclination is to fix it rather than to fight it."
My Beloved World | january 2013
"The challenges that I have faced—among them material poverty, chronic illness, and being raised by a single mother—are not uncommon, but neither have they kept me from uncommon achievement."
My Beloved World | january 2013
"People who live in difficult circumstances need to know that happy endings are possible."
My Beloved World | january 2013
"Experience has taught me that you cannot value dreams according to the odds of their coming true."
My Beloved World | january 2013
"Race matters in part because of the long history of racial minorities being denied access to the political process. ... Race also matters because of persistent racial inequality in society—inequality that cannot be ignored and that has produced stark socioeconomic disparities. And race matters for reasons that really are only skin deep, that cannot be discussed any other way, and that cannot be wished away."
Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action | april 2014
for further reading about Sonia Sotomayor:
curated with care by Alicia Williamson {september 2014}
Judge Sonia Sotomayor with her mother and father
The Obama administration featured this flashback photo ~ from Sonia's childhood growing up in a Puerto Rican household in the Bronx ~ on their White House site as part of a slideshow of her life.
unknown | The White House | CC BY 3.0
Sonia Sotomayor accepts the nomination by President Obama
Sonia publicly accepts the President's nom.
Jay Tamboli | CC BY 2.0
Justices O'Connor, Sotomayor, Ginsburg, and Kagan
Sonia gathers with the other remarkable women who've served on the Supreme Court for a photo opp during Elena Kagan's Investiture Ceremony, another female Associate Justice nominated by the Obama Administration.
Steve Petteway | Collection of the Supreme Court of the US | public domain
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and his wife are join
Sonia joins the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to attend a Nationals - Yankees game with wounded warriors and their families. {You will notice that Sonia ~ a lifelong Yankees fan ~ is the only one not sporting Washington gear!}
D. Myles Cullen | US Department of Defense | CC BY 2.0