A New Supreme Court Nominee--Sonia Sotomayor

This morning the President nominated Sonia Sotomayor to fill Justice David Souter's position on the United States Supreme Court. This appears to be a solid clean pick. Sotomayor has been nominated for federal judicial service by both Democrats and Republicans.

She was born on June 24, 1954 in the south Bronx to Puerto Rican parents. Her interest in the law was sparked by a love of Nancy Drew books. At first she thought to be a detective. However, when diagnosed with Diabetes at age 8 she was encouraged to pursue something less physical. She ended up being interested in the law after watching Perry Mason. Her mother is a retired nurse who often worked two jobs to raise a Doctor and a Lawyer. On accepting the nomination this morning Sotamayor credited her mother's efforts with getting her to this point of honor.

Sotomayor graduated from a Catholic high school in the Bronx and then received her undergraduate degree from Princeton. She obtained her law degree from Yale Law School in 1979 where she was editor of the Yale Law Journal. Sotomayor then served as an Assistant DA under the famous prosecutor, District Attorney Robert Morgenthau prosecuting robberies, assaults, murders, police brutality, and child pornography cases. If confirmed, Sotomayor will replace David Souter as the only judge on the Supreme Court with actual trial experience. I appreciate that she is a prosecutor. In 1984, she entered private practice, making partner at the commercial litigation firm of Pavia & Harcourt, where she specialized in international and intellectual property matters.

She was first appointed by George H. W. Bush to the U.S. District court for the Southern District of New York in 1991 making her the youngest Judge in that district. Upon receiving that nomination, the New York Times published the following article about her:

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/25/news/a-breakthrough-judge-what-she-always-wanted.html?sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink&pagewanted=2

On March 30, 1995 she issued the preliminary injunction against Major League Baseball, preventing the MLB from unilaterally implementing a new Collective Bargaining agreement in violation of the National Labor Relations Act and using replacement players. This effectively ended the 1994 Major League Baseball strike.She also issued an order allowing the Wall Street Journal to publish Vince Foster's suicide note.

In June of 1997 Bill Clinton nominated her to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. This nomination was hung up for about a year, as certain republicans did not want to elevate her, for fear she might ultimately be nominated to the Supreme Court. She was finally confirmed and assumed office in October of 1988. One must assume and perhaps hope that if there was any dirt to dig up on her, it would have come out then. She is divorced with no children. She has a niece and twin nephews.

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 firefighter. The case was recently heard by the U.S. Supreme Court as Ricci v. Destafano but a ruling has not yet been issued.

Prior to Obama nominating her she had actually been on George W. Bush's short list. However he picked Alito instead.

If Sotomayor is confirmed she will become the Court's first female Hispanic Justice.

To see a slideshow of her from the New York Times go to:
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/05/26/us/20090526-SOTOMAYOR_index.html

To see today's article on her in the New York Times go to:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/us/politics/27court.html
Be sure to check out the comments as they are quite interesting.

I wish her the best of luck as the games now begin.