Images and analysis from The Nation that capture the story of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor as she makes history.
Judge Sonia Sotomayor is on track to become the third female and first Hispanic- American to serve on the United States Supreme Court. Here is a look back at her career, the coverage of her historic nomination and her emergence as a national figure. [Reuters Pictures]
Sotomayor comes from a low-income Puerto Rican family based in the Bronx, NY. Her father, a factory worker, died when she was only 9 years old. Undaunted, she became the valedictorian of her high school class and then graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton in 1976. There she received the M. Taylor Pyne Prize, the highest honor Princeton awards to an undergraduate. Inspired by Perry Mason she chose to pursue a career in law. [AP Images]
After compiling a stellar judicial and private practice record, Sotomayor becomes an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan. In 1998, President Bill Clinton appoints her to the US Court of Appeals. She is the first Latina to serve on the court, and has since participated in over 3,000 panel decisions, authoring roughly 400 published opinions. [AP Images]
Even before Sotomayor was nominated, the question of what matters most in a nominee is hotly debated. Ian Haney Lopez, a law professor at the University of California, Berkley, pointed out that identity was key. “Judge Sotomayor deserves our support not because of who she is but because of what she thinks–especially about the most injurious forms of structural injustice in the United States: race, gender and class,” he said. [Pace University]
On May 26, 2009 President Obama pleases progressives by not only seeking to add more gender diversity to the court but more ethnic diversity as well, by officially nominating Sotomayor to replace the retiring David Souter on the US Supreme Court. In the press conference announcing the pick, Obama notes that she has “more experience on the bench and more varied experience of the bench than anyone currently serving on the Supreme Court when they were appointed.” [AP Images]
With seventeen years of experience on the federal court The Nation‘s editors unequivocally believe she is by no means the “intellectual lightweight” some of her detractors have called her. “Sotomayor has spoken movingly of how the ‘richness of her experiences’ as a ‘wise Latina woman’ could help her craft better decisions. Conservatives might want to think twice before using that against her.” [AP Images]
Almost as soon as Sotomayor’s nomination is announced the right-wing launches a vicious smear campaign, questioning everything from her intelligence and temperament to her ability to judge cases regarding white males fairly. Rush Limbaugh (pictured here) predictably leads the charge branding her a “racist.” [AP Images]
Antiabortion activist Randall Terry protests Sotomayor’s nomination and calls for Kansas Senator Sam Brownback to filibuster her confirmation. Although Sotomayor’s record on reproductive rights is thin, the overwhelming perception that she will uphold Roe v. Wade puts many conservatives on edge. During her confirmations hearings, Sotomayor emphatically states that the abortion ruling is “settled law.” [AP Images]
“Unless you have a complete meltdown, you’re going to get confirmed,” South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham admits to Sotomayor. By the end of the first day of confirmation hearings it’s clear she wouldn’t have anything close to one. Sotomayor disarmed senators with her charm and sat patiently during their largely self-serving remarks. Although the Democrats already have enough votes to virtually guarantee her confirmation, the hearings prove she may even win support from the “party of No.” [Reuters Pictures]
Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar is one of the only Senators who doesn’t waste time grandstanding for the cameras during the hearings. She not only treats Sotomayor with genuine respect but elicits some of the most heartfelt, engaging responses from the judge. [Photo Courtesy Sen. Klobuchar]
Leading the opposition to Sotomayor is Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions. Even though Sessions himself was once rejected as a judicial nominee for his own history of racist remarks, he has no problem insinuating that Sotomayor is in fact bigoted against white men because of an often misrepresented quote of Sotomayor’s regarding being a “wise Latina.” [AP Images]
“Sotomayor passed the test. She met the Senators’ questioning with thoughtful responses. Her voice did not quiver. Her face did not scowl,” writes Melissa Harris-Lacewell during the confirmation hearings. The nominee stoically, with dignity and strength, delivered her testimony in front of the mostly male and all white judiciary committee, in much the same way Elizabeth Eckford stood tall before angry white students, parents and police on the way to desegregate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957. [AP Images]
“Judge Sotomayor refused to bite when her conservative critics attempted to bait her,” concludes The Nation‘s John Nichols at the end of her confirmation hearings. Her fiercest critic, Sen. Sessions, admits that he would oppose any attempt to block her confirmation with a filibuster. [AP Images]
On August 6, 2009, the Senate overwhelmingly votes to confirm Sonia Sotomayor as the 111th Supreme Court Justice in US history. By breaking barriers of race and gender, Sotomayor’s confirmation is hailed by Sen. Russ Feingold as a “significant moment in this nation’s history.” Her success will hopefully lead to more women, people of color, Muslims, Buddhists and out gays and lesbians on the nation’s highest court. [AP Images/C-Span]
Sonia Sotomayor takes the oath from Chief Justice John Roberts to become the Supreme Court’s first Hispanic justice and only the third woman in the court’s 220-year history, in Washington, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2009. She is joined by her brother, Juan Luis Sotomayor, and her mother Celina Sotomayor. [AP Images]
