Sonia Sotomayor

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States since 2009

Sonia Sotomayor (born: June 25, 1954) is a United States Supreme Court justice. She has been on the Court since 2009, and was on a lower court before that. When on the lower court, she ended the 1994 baseball strike. She is the first and only Latina (hispanic women) on the Court. Sotomayor is Puerto Rican and is from the Bronx.[4]

Sonia Sotomayor
Official Supreme Court photo of Sonia Sotomayor
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Assumed office
August 8, 2009[1]
Nominated byBarack Obama
Preceded byDavid Souter
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
In office
October 7, 1998 – August 6, 2009
Nominated byBill Clinton
Preceded byDaniel Mahoney
Succeeded byRaymond Lohier
Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
In office
August 12, 1992 – October 7, 1998
Nominated byGeorge H. W. Bush
Preceded byJohn Walker
Succeeded byVictor Marrero
Personal details
Born
Sonia Maria Sotomayor

(1954-06-25) June 25, 1954 (age 69)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic (Before 2009)[2]
Independent (2009–present)[3]
Spouse(s)
Kevin Noonan
(m. 1976; div. 1983)
EducationPrinceton University (BA)
Yale University (JD)

Sotomayor was born in New York City to parents who were from Puerto Rico. As a child, she was interested in reading the Nancy Drew series and other detective stories. She had a rough childhood since her alcoholic father died when she was nine. Throughout her time in high school and at Princeton, Sotomayor was a charismatic and inspirational leader. She graduated Princeton with a history degree, went to Yale University to study law and then served as a U.S District Court judge and judge for U.S Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

References change

  1. "Members of the Supreme Court of the United States". Supreme Court of the United States. Archived from the original on April 29, 2010. Retrieved April 26, 2010. Her commission date was August 6, per the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges at the Federal Judicial Center site, but the Supreme Court site states: "The date a Member of the Court took his/her Judicial oath (the Judiciary Act provided 'That the Justices of the Supreme Court, and the district judges, before they proceed to execute the duties of their respective offices, shall take the following oath ...') is here used as the date of the beginning of his/her service, for until that oath is taken he/she is not vested with the prerogatives of the office."
  2. Epstein, Lee; Segal, Jeffrey A.; Spaeth, Harold J.; Walker, Thomas G. (July 29, 2015). The Supreme Court Compendium: Data, Decisions, and Developments. CQ Press. ISBN 9781483376639 – via Google Books.
  3. Sotomayor says she's no Democrat, eager to show her independence on court
  4. "Judge of the United States Courts – Sotomayor, Sonia". Federal Judicial Center. Retrieved May 26, 2009.

Sources change

  • Hutchinson, Dennis J. "Sotomayor, Sonia."  World Book Advanced. World Book, 2015. Web.  8 May 2015. 
  • "Sonia Sotomayor." Newsmakers. Vol. 4. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Biography in Context. Web. 8 May 2023