U.S. Circuit Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor was nominated today to replace retiring Justice David Souter on the U.S. Supreme Court. If confirmed, she will be the first Hispanic to serve on the Court.
Below is the full text of the White House press release concerning Judge Sotomayor's nomination.
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
______________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 26, 2009
Family members of Judge Sotomayor in attendance at today’s East Room announcement:
Celina Sotomayor (mother)
Omar Lopez (stepfather)
Juan Sotomayor (brother)
Tracey Sotomayor (sister-in-law)
Kylie Sotomayor (niece)
Conner and Corey Sotomayor (nephews)
Judge Sonia Sotomayor
Sonia Sotomayor has served as a judge on the United States Court of
Appeals for the Second Circuit since October 1998. She has been hailed
as "one of the ablest federal judges currently sitting" for her
thoughtful opinions,i and as "a role model of aspiration, discipline,
commitment, intellectual prowess and integrity"ii for her ascent to the
federal bench from an upbringing in a South Bronx housing project.
Her American story and three decade career in nearly every aspect of
the law provide Judge Sotomayor with unique qualifications to be the
next Supreme Court Justice. She is a distinguished graduate of two of
America's leading universities. She has been a big-city prosecutor and
a corporate litigator. Before she was promoted to the Second Circuit by
President Clinton, she was appointed to the District Court for the
Southern District of New York by President George H.W. Bush. She
replaces Justice Souter as the only Justice with experience as a trial
judge.
Judge Sotomayor served 11 years on the Court of Appeals for the
Second Circuit, one of the most demanding circuits in the country, and
has handed down decisions on a range of complex legal and
constitutional issues. If confirmed, Sotomayor would bring more federal
judicial experience to the Supreme Court than any justice in 100 years,
and more overall judicial experience than anyone confirmed for the
Court in the past 70 years. Judge Richard C. Wesley, a George W. Bush
appointee to the Second Circuit, said "Sonia is an outstanding
colleague with a keen legal mind. She brings a wealth of knowledge and
hard work to all her endeavors on our court. It is both a pleasure and
an honor to serve with her."
In addition to her distinguished judicial service, Judge Sotomayor
is a Lecturer at Columbia University Law School and was also an adjunct
professor at New York University Law School until 2007.
An American Story
Judge Sonia Sotomayor has lived the American dream. Born to a Puerto
Rican family, she grew up in a public housing project in the South
Bronx. Her parents moved to New York during World War II – her mother
served in the Women’s Auxiliary Corps during the war. Her father, a
factory worker with a third-grade education, died when Sotomayor was
nine years old. Her mother, a nurse, then raised Sotomayor and her
younger brother, Juan, now a physician in Syracuse. After her father’s
death, Sotomayor turned to books for solace, and it was her new found
love of Nancy Drew that inspired a love of reading and learning, a path
that ultimately led her to the law.
Most importantly, at an early age, her mother instilled in Sotomayor
and her brother a belief in the power of education. Driven by an
indefatigable work ethic, and rising to the challenge of managing a
diagnosis of juvenile diabetes, Sotomayor excelled in school. Sotomayor
graduated as valedictorian of her class at Blessed Sacrament and at
Cardinal Spellman High School in New York. She first heard about the
Ivy League from her high school debate coach, Ken Moy, who attended
Princeton University, and she soon followed in his footsteps after
winning a scholarship.
At Princeton, she continued to excel, graduating summa cum laude,
and Phi Beta Kappa. She was a co-recipient of the M. Taylor Pyne Prize,
the highest honor Princeton awards to an undergraduate. At Yale Law
School, Judge Sotomayor served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal and
as managing editor of the Yale Studies in World Public Order. One of
Sotomayor’s former Yale Law School classmates, Robert Klonoff (now Dean
of Lewis & Clark Law School), remembers her intellectual toughness
from law school: "She would stand up for herself and not be intimidated
by anyone." [Washington Post, 5/7/09]
A Champion of the Law
Over a distinguished career that spans three decades, Judge
Sotomayor has worked at almost every level of our judicial system –
yielding a depth of experience and a breadth of perspectives that will
be invaluable – and is currently not represented -- on our highest
court. New York City District Attorney Morgenthau recently praised
Sotomayor as an "able champion of the law" who would be "highly
qualified for any position in which wisdom, intelligence, collegiality
and good character could be assets." [Wall Street Journal, 5/9/09]
A Fearless and Effective Prosecutor
Fresh out of Yale Law School, Judge Sotomayor became an Assistant
District Attorney in Manhattan in 1979, where she tried dozens of
criminal cases over five years. Spending nearly every day in the court
room, her prosecutorial work typically involved "street crimes," such
as murders and robberies, as well as child abuse, police misconduct,
and fraud cases. Robert Morgenthau, the person who hired Judge
Sotomayor, has described her as a "fearless and effective prosecutor."
[Wall Street Journal, 5/9/09] She was cocounsel in the "Tarzan
Murderer" case, which convicted a murderer to 67 and ½ years to life in
prison, and was sole counsel in a multiple-defendant case involving a
Manhattan housing project shooting between rival family groups.
A Corporate Litigator
She entered private practice in 1984, becoming a partner in 1988 at
the firm Pavia and Harcourt. She was a general civil litigator involved
in all facets of commercial work including, real estate, employment,
banking, contracts, and agency law. In addition, her practice had a
significant concentration in intellectual property law, including
trademark, copyright and unfair competition issues. Her typical clients
were significant corporations doing international business. The
managing partner who hired her, George Pavia, remembers being instantly
impressed with the young Sonia Sotomayor when he hired her in 1984,
noting that "she was just ideal for us in terms of her background and
training." [Washington Post, May 7, 2009]
A Sharp and Fearless Trial Judge
Her judicial service began in October 1992 with her appointment to
the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
by President George H.W. Bush. Still in her 30s, she was the youngest
member of the court. From 1992 to 1998, she presided over roughly 450
cases. As a trial judge, she earned a reputation as a sharp and
fearless jurist who does not let powerful interests bully her into
departing from the rule of law. In 1995, for example, she issued an
injunction against Major League Baseball owners, effectively ending a
baseball strike that had become the longest work stoppage in
professional sports history and had caused the cancellation of the
World Series the previous fall. She was widely lauded for saving
baseball. Claude Lewis of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote
that by saving the season, Judge Sotomayor joined "the ranks of Joe
DiMaggio, Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson and Ted Williams."
A Tough, Fair and Thoughtful Jurist
President Clinton appointed Judge Sotomayor to the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1998. She is the first Latina to
serve on that court, and has participated in over 3000 panel decisions,
authoring roughly 400 published opinions. Sitting on the Second
Circuit, Judge Sotomayor has tackled a range of questions: from
difficult issues of constitutional law, to complex procedural matters,
to lawsuits involving complicated business organizations. In this
context, Sotomayor is widely admired as a judge with a sophisticated
grasp of legal doctrine. "’She appreciates the complexity of issues,’
said Stephen L. Carter, a Yale professor who teaches some of her
opinions in his classes. Confronted with a tough case, Carter said,
‘she doesn’t leap at its throat but reasons to get to the bottom of
issues.’" For example, in United States v. Quattrone, Judge
Sotomayor concluded that the trial judge had erred by forbidding the
release of jurors’ names to the press, concluding after carefully
weighing the competing concerns that the trial judge’s concerns for a
speedy and orderly trial must give way to the constitutional freedoms
of speech and the press.
Sotomayor also has keen awareness of the law’s impact on everyday
life. Active in oral arguments, she works tirelessly to probe both the
factual details and the legal doctrines in the cases before her and to
arrive at decisions that are faithful to both. She understands that
upholding the rule of law means going beyond legal theory to ensure
consistent, fair, common-sense application of the law to real-world
facts. For example, In United States v. Reimer, Judge Sotomayor wrote
an opinion revoking the US citizenship for a man charged with working
for the Nazis in World War II Poland, guarding concentration camps and
helping empty the Jewish ghettos. And in Lin v. Gonzales and
a series of similar cases, she ordered renewed consideration of the
asylum claims of Chinese women who experienced or were threatened with
forced birth control, evincing in her opinions a keen awareness of
those women’s plights.
Judge Sotomayor’s appreciation of the real-world implications of
judicial rulings is paralleled by her sensible practicality in
evaluating the actions of law enforcement officers. For example, in
United States v. Falso, the defendant was convicted of possessing child
pornography after FBI agents searched his home with a warrant. The
warrant should not have been issued, but the agents did not know that,
and Judge Sotomayor wrote for the court that the officers’ good faith
justified using the evidence they found. Similarly in United States v. Santa,
Judge Sotomayor ruled that when police search a suspect based on a
mistaken belief that there is a valid arrest warrant out on him,
evidence found during the search should not be suppressed. Ten years
later, in Herring v. United States, the Supreme Court reached
the same conclusion. In her 1997 confirmation hearing, Sotomayor spoke
of her judicial philosophy, saying" I don’t believe we should bend the
Constitution under any circumstance. It says what it says. We should do
honor to it." Her record on the Second Circuit holds true to that
statement. For example, in Hankins v. Lyght, she argued in
dissent that the federal government risks "an unconstitutional
trespass" if it attempts to dictate to religious organizations who they
can or cannot hire or dismiss as spiritual leaders. Since joining the
Second Circuit, Sotomayor has honored the Constitution, the rule of
law, and justice, often forging consensus and winning conservative
colleagues to her point of view.
A Commitment to Community
Judge Sotomayor is deeply committed to her family, to her
co-workers, and to her community. Judge Sotomayor is a doting aunt to
her brother Juan’s three children and an attentive godmother to five
more. She still speaks to her mother, who now lives in Florida, every
day. At the courthouse, Judge Sotomayor helped found the collegiality
committee to foster stronger personal relationships among members of
the court. Seizing an opportunity to lead others on the path to
success, she recruited judges to join her in inviting young women to
the courthouse on Take Your Daughter to Work Day, and mentors young
students from troubled neighborhoods Her favorite project, however, is
the Development School for Youth program, which sponsors workshops for
inner city high school students. Every semester, approximately 70
students attend 16 weekly workshops that are designed to teach them how
to function in a work setting. The workshop leaders include investment
bankers, corporate executives and Judge Sotomayor, who conducts a
workshop on the law for 25 to 35 students. She uses as her vehicle the
trial of Goldilocks and recruits six lawyers to help her. The students
play various roles, including the parts of the prosecutor, the defense
attorney, Goldilocks and the jurors, and in the process they get to
experience openings, closings, direct and cross-examinations. In
addition to the workshop experience, each student is offered a summer
job by one of the corporate sponsors. The experience is rewarding for
the lawyers and exciting for the students, commented Judge Sotomayor,
as "it opens up possibilities that the students never dreamed of
before." [Federal Bar Council News, Sept./Oct./Nov. 2005, p.20] This is
one of many ways that Judge Sotomayor gives back to her community and
inspires young people to achieve their dreams.
She has served as a member of the Second Circuit Task Force on
Gender, Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts and was formerly on
the Boards of Directors of the New York Mortgage Agency, the New York
City Campaign Finance Board, and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and
Education Fund.
_________________________
i American Philosophical Society, Biographical Essays of Moderators,
Speakers, Inductees and Award Recipients, Annual General Meeting, April
2003, at 36.
ii Honorary Degree Citation, Pace University School of Law, 2003 Commencement.
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