Obama's Choice: Sonia Sotomayor

What a wonderfully qualified individual! Sonia Sotomayor (pronounced with a little flip at the final "r", not a rolling "r". ) was originally picked for the Federal Bench in New York State as federal district court judge by President George Herbert Walker Bush. She was then moved to the Federal Appelate Court by President William Clinton. She had started as an assistant District Attorney, and then worked for a private law firm with international corporate clients. She is highly respected as a centrist candidate who has great intellectual credentials and wide experience.

She went to school at Princeton University (graduating Summa Cum Laudae) and then to Yale University Law School where she was well respected and was made an editor of the Law Review.

Judge Sotomayor was the Judge in New York who ended the Baseball Strike. Good for her. She is a lifelong baseball fan who grew up within walking distance of Yankee Stadium. She can be found eating a New York hot dog, much as she would also be found in a trendy New York restaurant.

She will be the first Supreme Court nominee who grew up in a housing project. Her parents were both from Puerto Rican families. She decided when she was ten years old that she wanted to be a judge, after watching Perry Mason. -- I also watched Perry Mason, but I am not a lawyer. Oh well, opportunity missed for me! Good for her.

Her father died just after she developed juvenile diabetes (age 9), and her mother supported her and her brother for the rest of their lives. Her mom was a nurse, and often worked two jobs. Her brother is now a physician.

We have no way of knowing, but she might be more of a civil rights advocate than a corporate advocate. This would be fitting as, if confirmed, she would be replacement for Judge David Souter. He has been an advocate of human beings, the people, most of America.

For those who are worried about "making law from the bench" which is code for supporting abortion, since she is also Catholic she is unlikely to be undoing any moral law from the bench.

Video of the announcement can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hxgb-GAmf1M



Video of her acceptance can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ax6I5U