Sonia Sotomayor: You've Got A Date

Thursday, August 06, 2009



Just gotta love what you see.

Sotomayor will bring unique perspective to the Supreme Court

The historic confirmation Thursday of Judge Sonia Sotomayor as the nation's newest justice will bring new perspectives to the Supreme Court, and not just because she will be its first Latino.

After three days of debate, the Senate voted 68-31 in her favor, with nine Republicans crossing party lines to support her. After she is sworn into office Saturday, she will be the only justice whose first language is not English. She has had diabetes since childhood -- a medical condition classified as a disability under federal law. She was raised in a Bronx housing project where drugs were more common than success at an Ivy League college. And the 111th justice is a divorced woman with no children. Sotomayor, the 55-year-old daughter of Puerto Rican parents, watched the vote in a conference room at the federal courthouse in Manhattan where she served as an appellate judge. Other judges and court workers celebrated with Sotomayor, who took a call from her mother after the vote was completed. "Mommy, I have people here," she said, before conversing briefly in Spanish. When she left the courthouse, she declined to answer questions from reporters, saying: "I'm going to be with my friends."

More Republicans than expected voted for Sotomayor, given the partisan nature of recent Supreme Court confirmation hearings.
Sonia Sotomayor is a point of pride for Puerto Ricans

The Puerto Rican strip on Division Street isn't lacking for icons, from murals of nationalist Pedro Albizu Campos to storefront portraits of baseball great Roberto Clemente.

Music store owner Lily Martinez is prepping for the next: "I need a poster of her. She's a beautiful lady, the best."
Sotomayor faces heavy workload of tough cases

With the Senate’s approval of Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court on Thursday, the new justice will soon take on one of the most demanding jobs in the land.

Just over a month from now, Justice Sotomayor will hear her first case, one that may transform how elections are financed, at a special summer session of the court. A few weeks later, she will join her eight new colleagues to decide which of the hundreds of appeals that have piled up over the summer the court should hear.