Backstage

This article was written by Danielle

2009 a year for making history! It started with our first Black President, Barack Obama and now he is passing the torch to South Bronx native, U.S. Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Administration officials say Sotomayor would bring more judicial experience to the Supreme Court than any justice confirmed in the past 70 years in addition to being the first Hispanic in the Supreme Court!

Sotomayor is a self-described “NewYorkrican”  and a graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School. She was raised in a Bronx housing project where Sotomayor has dealt with diabetes since age 8 and lost her father at age 9.

Sonia Sotomayor has accomplished many things in her law career such as making partner of Pavia & Harcourt in 1984, becoming the youngest judge in the Southern District of New York due to being nominated by Former President George H.W Bush in 1991, and the first Hispanic federal judge in the state of New York. In 1997 was nominated by Former President Bill Clinton, and confirmed into the position she currently hold, U.S Circuit Judge.

According to the Associated Press:

Sotomayor’s elevation to the appeals court was delayed by Republicans, in part out of concerns she might someday be selected for the Supreme Court. She was ultimately confirmed for the appeals court in 1998 on a 68-28 vote, gathering some Republican support.

Among those voting against her was Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, now the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee that will hold sway over her confirmation.

Now, more than a decade later, Sotomayor possesses credentials Sessions said he wanted in a pick for the high court — years of experience on the bench. Obama had talked openly about the upside of choosing someone outside the judiciary — every single current justice is a former federal appeals court judge — but passed on at least two serious candidates who had never been judges.

¡Felicitaciones Sonia Sotomayer! ¡Usted es una fuerza para ser tenida en cuenta!

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