This morning, President Barack Obama announced that he has tapped New York federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, making her the first Hispanic to hold such a position. This is the first nomination by a Democratic president in 15 years.
If confirmed by the Senate, Sotomayor, 54, will succeed retiring Justice David Souter.
The formal announcement is expected to be made later this morning.
Administration officials say Sotomayor would bring more judicial experience to the Supreme Court than any justice confirmed in the past 70 years.
Obama has said publicly he wanted a justice who combined intellect and empathy. Sotomayor is a self-described “Newyorkrican” who grew up in a Bronx housing project after her parents moved to New York from Puerto Rico. She has dealt with diabetes since age 8 and lost her father at age 9.
Democrats hold a majority in the Senate, so it is unlikely Sotomayor’s confirmation will be blocked. If confirmed, she would join Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the second woman on the current court and only the third woman ever in the history of the Supreme Court
A graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School, a former prosecutor and private attorney, Sotomayor became a federal judge for the Southern District of New York in 1992.As a judge, she has a bipartisan history. She was first appointed by a Republican, President George H.W. Bush, and then named an appeals judge by President Bill Clinton in 1997.
The following groups have released statements in favor of Sotomayor:
Bravo to President Obama!
President Obama continues to present the true characteristics of a visionary and trailblazer by appointing Justice Sonia Sotomayor to SCOTUS.
The nomination, and ultimate confirmation, of Sonia Sotomayor represent a giant leap forward in the realization of the American dream for millions of Latinos who came before her and the countless millions that will follow after her.
Their personal quest for a place in the great American horizon is validated, or even justified, despite the turmoil and disappointment that too many Latinos have and continue experience in pursuit of respite in America.
Just think of it, 100 years from now our great grandchildren will be common-place Americans. No longer will they have to struggle to have “the first Hispanic appointed to” any post on the American governmental hierarchy. But, for now, it is our civic duty – nay, responsibility, to do all we can to see Sonia Sotomayor become the next Justice of the Supreme Court. To not stand with Sonia is to deny generations of Latinos who will follow us an opportunity to rejoice upon the commemoration of this historic first.
I am reminded of the thousands of Puerto Rican women who constituted the bulk of the Puerto Rican labor diaspora in the sweatshops of the garment industry in NYC. How many of them faced injustice, humiliation and contempt? Like so many other Latino migrant workers of all sorts they paved the way for Sonia, with decency, tenacity and perseverance. If nothing more, we owe it to their memory and honor to stand fast and lift Sonia Sotomayor to the highest court of the land.
Si se puede!
rafa