Sonia Sotomayor’s Personal Background
As noted in a previous post, I’ll be providing information about the person President Barack Obama has nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Sonia Sotomayor. This first post deals with personal background information. All posts on Sotomayor will be designed to look at her from a labor and employment perspective, not a political or ideological one.
My thanks to Sharita Whitaker, a summer clerk here at Miller & Martin and a law student at North Carolina Central University, for her assistance with this post.
Background Information
Sonia Sotomayor was born on June 25, 1954. She was raised in the Bronx in the Bronxdale housing projects. She was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at the age of eight. After her father died a year later, she and her brother were raised by her mother, Celina.
Sotomayor was fond of Nancy Drew books and the Perry Mason television show. This combination started her interest in the law.
Sotomayor is of Hispanic descent and is fluent in both English and Spanish. She is divorced with no children but has three nieces and nephews and also has five godchildren.
As you can see from the above information, Judge Sotomayor finds herself in at least four protected classes: gender, national origin, age and disability.
Education
Sotomayor graduated as valedictorian of her class from Cardinal Spellman High School in 1972. She then went to Princeton University and was named the co-recipient of the M. Taylor Pyne Prize, which is the highest honor Princeton awards to an undergraduate student. She graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1976.
Sotomayor then attended Yale Law School. She served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal and managing editor of the Yale Studies in World Public Order. She graduated from Yale, receiving a law degree in 1979.
Career
From 1979 to 1984, Sotomayor served as an assistant district attorney in the New York County District Attorney’s Office. From 1984 to 1992, she worked as a private practice attorney in the law firm of Pavia and Harcourt in New York City. Sotomayor became a partner in the firm in 1988. In her private practice career, she served as a general civil litigator, participating in some employment litigation. Her typical clients were large corporations.
In 1992, Sotomayor became a Judge for the U. S. District Court in the Southern District of New York. She was appointed to that position by President George H.W. Bush. Sotomayor was the youngest member of that court at the time she served, and she presided over approximately 450 cases, including several employment law cases. She served on the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York for six years.
In 1998, Sotomayor became a Judge for the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She was appointed to that position by President Bill Clinton. Currently, she is still holding her position as a member of that court. Sotomayor is the first Latina to serve on that court and has authored approximately 400 published opinions, some of which deal with employment law issues. Sotomayor previously served as a member of the Task Force on Gender, Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Honors
From 1998 to 2007, Sotomayor served as an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law. From 1999 to 2009, she has also served as a lecturer-in-law at Columbia Law School.
Sotomayor has been honored at numerous law schools in the country. In 1999, she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Law Degree from Herbert H. Lehman College. In 2001, she was awarded an honorary doctor of law degree from her undergraduate alma mater Princeton University and also an honorary doctor of law degree from Brooklyn Law School. Sotomayor was awarded an honorary doctor of law degree from Pace University School of Law in 2003 and an honorary doctor of law degree from Hofstra University in 2006.
Activities and Interests
Sotomayor participates in the Development School for Youth program, which sponsors workshops for inner-city high school students.
Sotomayor is a member of the following organizations:
- American Bar Association
- Women’s Bar Association—New York City Chapter
- Hispanic National Bar Association
- Puerto Rican Bar Association
- Association of Judges of Hispanic Heritage
- National Association of Women Judges
- American Philosophical Society
Sotomayor formerly served on the board of directors for the following:
- State of New York Mortgage Agency
- New York City Campaign Finance Board
- Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund
- Maternity Center Association
Interesting Facts
If confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court, Sotomayor will replace Justice David Souter as the only Justice with experience as a trial judge.
If confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court, Sotomayor would bring more federal judicial experience to the U.S. Supreme Court than any justice in 100 years, and more overall judicial experience than anyone confirmed to the Court in the past 70 years.
Sotomayor’s religious affiliation is unknown. She attended Catholic schools, but it has not yet been confirmed that she is, in fact, Catholic. If she is, she would become the sixth Catholic justice on the current Supreme Court.
Sotomayor is a die-hard baseball fan. Her team? New York Yankees.
A notable quote: In regard to children who have thrived in threatening environments, Sotomayor said, “We should applaud more frequently those who transform a lost life.”
Stay tuned. There’s much more to come.
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Chris Parker's practice focuses on the representation and counseling of companies in matters pertaining to the workplace and the protection of their intellectual property and trade secrets. In addition to serving as an advocate for clients, Mr. Parker is also trained as a mediator and frequently serves as a third-party neutral.
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John, John, John…
Fact-based, objective analyses free of shrill invective personal attacks have no place in this discussion!
At least, that’s what I’m led to believe by all other sources.
Frank,
I should have known you’d call me out on this. Oh well. Just call me out of step.
John
Just saying, this rational approach isn’t going to snag you that guest shot with O’Reilly or Olbermann.
And chicks dig O’Reilly and Olbermann…
John, I appreciate the straight forward facts only approach. We are getting the “opinions” regularly on our daily news. So thanks for the straight skinny!
This country should stop its love affair with judges who are ideologues…right and left. It’s sad when the law isn’t the most prevalent
consideration in a case, but ideology is. We need more judges like Anthony Kennedy who speak moderately and see cases from less of and ideological perspective. A judge’s race, gender or political connections should not be so strong as to tell you how they will rule exclusive of the law. There is too much of this on the court now…Sotomayor will be more of the same…we don’t need another Ginzberg or Thomas to fill Souter’s shoes.
John,
Thanks for giving us “just the facts”. The fact is she’s an Hispanic female, either of which could give her a different perspective than someone who is not an Hispanic female. Nothing wrong with that. It’s just a fact.
Don’t forget – as a nominee, Justice Souter worried liberals because of his conservative viewpoints. Once he got to “the bigs”, he started irritating conservatives far more frequently. Many observers consider Sotomayor more conservative than Souter.
You can’t always predict how a nominee’s personal philosophies will manifest…
John,
Thank you for the non-political information on Judge Sotomayor. So much rhetoric on the Left and Right makes my head spin. I appreciate the info! Keep up the good work!
Thanks for all the comments so far.
ACU Frank, with respect to your last comment, you make an important point. One never knows until the justice has been on the Court for a couple of years. In my lifetme, in addition to Souter, there have been a number of “surprises.”
I doubt that Earl Warren was what Eisenhower thought he would be. I doubt that Byron White was what Kennedy thought he would be. I’m sure Harry Blackmum wasn’t what Nixon thought he would be.
I don’t know whether Sotomayor will turn out to be more conservative than Souter. I think her record makes it hard to pigeonhole her at this point.
John