Sonia Sotomayor

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Sonia Sotomayor
Image of Sonia Sotomayor
Supreme Court of the United States
Tenure

2009 - Present

Years in position

15

Prior offices
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York

United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit

Education

Bachelor's

Princeton University, 1976

Law

Yale Law School, 1979

Personal
Birthplace
New York, N.Y.


Sonia Sotomayor is an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. President Barack Obama (D) nominated her to fill the seat left vacant by David Souter's retirement on June 29, 2009. The Senate confirmed her nomination and she was sworn in on August 8, 2009, becoming the first Hispanic justice to sit on the court.[1]

Sotomayor was born in New York, New York, in 1954. She graduated as valedictorian from Cardinal Spellman High School, a private Catholic school in New York City, in 1972. Sotomayor received an undergraduate degree in history from Princeton University in 1976 and a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1979. At Yale, she co-chaired the Latin American and Native American Students Association and edited the Yale Law Journal.[1]

Sotomayor began her legal career as an assistant district attorney in Manhattan in 1979. She moved into private practice at Pavia & Harcourt in 1984, where she specialized in intellectual property rights and copyright litigation.[1]

President George H.W. Bush (R) nominated Sotomayor to serve on the District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1991; she took the bench in 1992. While on the court, notable rulings included Silverman v. Major League Baseball Player Relations Committee, Inc, where her decision ended a Major League Baseball strike, and Castle Rock Entertainment, Inc. v. Carol Publishing Group, where her opinion in a Seinfeld-related copyright infringement case became a standard for fair use doctrine.[1]

Sotomayor joined the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1998 after President Bill Clinton (D) nominated her to that court in 1997.[2] A notable ruling included her majority opinion in abortion case Center for Reproductive Law and Policy v. Bush, where the Center brought a case against the Bush administration's 2001 reinstatement of the Global Gag Rule. Sotomayor "found that the Center's free speech claim was ruled out by an earlier opinion ... [and that] the Center lacked standing to pursue [a violation to due process] claim."[3] She also rejected the Center's equal protection claim.[3]

Sotomayor said of her judicial philosophy: "I have always tried to approach the law as a learning process, as one of trying to understanding how other people have approached particular questions. I believe that people really expect the law to have some fixed meaning that gives them some measure of comfort in their human relations."[4]

Recapping Sotomayor's first ten years on the court, Richard Wolf wrote in USA Today in 2019 that "she has been a reliable member of the court's liberal wing."[5] Sotomayor’s notable Supreme Court opinions include her dissent in preferential admissions case Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action and her joint dissent in abortion case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. She also ruled in the majority in cases that upheld the Affordable Care Act and in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage.[1]

Professional career

Early life and education

Sotomayor was born on June 25, 1954, in New York, New York. Her parents were born in Puerto Rico.[7][8][9] Sotomayor graduated as valedictorian from Cardinal Spellman High School, a private Catholic school in New York City, in 1972. At the time of her confirmation, Sotomayor was the sixth sitting Catholic on the court, alongside Chief Justice John Roberts and justices Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito.[10][11][12]

Sotomayor graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University with an undergraduate degree in history in 1976. While at Princeton, she received the M. Taylor Pyne Honor Prize. Sotomayor wrote her senior thesis on "The Impact of the Life of Luis Muñoz Marin on the Political and Economic History of Puerto Rico, 1930-1975." After graduating from Princeton University, Sotomayor attended Yale Law School, where she received her J.D. in 1979. She co-chaired the Latin American and Native American Students Association and was published in the Yale Law Journal (where she served as an editor) with the note "Statehood and the Equal Footing Doctrine: The Case for Puerto Rican Seabed Rights," which, as the title suggests, analyzed issues regarding Puerto Rico's ability to maintain rights to its seabed if it pursued statehood.[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][7]

Approach to the law

Sotomayor is known to be a member of the court's liberal bloc. Recapping her first ten years on the court, Richard Wolf wrote in USA Today in 2019 that "she has been a reliable member of the court's liberal wing."[20]

Oyez, a law project created by Cornell’s Legal Information Institute, Justia, and Chicago-Kent College of Law, said in 2019 that Sotomayor "is known on the court for her trust in the judicial process, and her cutthroat attitude toward ill-prepared attorneys. She is also known for her kindness toward jurors and the attorneys who work hard to advocate for their clients."[1]

Martin-Quinn score

Sotomayor's Martin-Quinn score following the 2023-2024 term was -4.21, making her the most liberal justice on the court at that time. Martin-Quinn scores were developed by political scientists Andrew Martin and Kevin Quinn from the University of Michigan, and measure the justices of the Supreme Court along an ideological continuum. The further from zero on the scale, the more conservative (>0) or liberal (<0) the justice. The chart below details every justice's Martin-Quinn score for the 2023-2024 term. These are preliminary scores provided by Kevin Quinn that may differ slightly from the final version of the scores that Martin and Quinn will make publicly available at a later date.

See also

External links


Footnotes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Oyez, "Sonia Sotomayor," accessed April 19, 2022
  2. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named fjc
  3. 3.0 3.1 Center For Reproductive Rights, "Center for Reproductive Law & Policy v. Bush: Background on Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s 2002 Opinion," accessed July 3, 2024
  4. Notre Dame News, "A conversation with Justice Sonia Sotomayor," September 3, 2015
  5. USA Today, "'The People's Justice': After decade on Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor is most outspoken on bench and off," August 8, 2019
  6. Federal Judicial Center, "Sonia Sotomayor," accessed April 14, 2021
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Time, "Sonia Sotomayor: A justice like no other," May 28, 2009 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "Time Nomination" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "Time Nomination" defined multiple times with different content
  8. New York Times, "In Puerto Rico, Supreme Court pick with island roots becomes a superstar," May 29, 2009
  9. New York Times, "A breakthrough judge: what she always wanted," September 25, 1992
  10. Cardinal Spellman High School, "Spellman grad U.S. Supreme Court nominee"
  11. Boston.com, "Sotomayor would be sixth Catholic justice," May 26, 2009, archived January 17, 2013
  12. Adherents.com, "Religious affiliation of the U.S. Supreme Court"
  13. Politico, "Princeton University holds the key to understanding Sonia Sotomayor," May 29, 2009
  14. The Daily Princetonian, "Latin student groups assail university hiring performance," April 22, 1974
  15. Princeton University, "Princeton alumna, trustee nominated to Supreme Court," May 26, 2009
  16. Preface to Sonia Sotomayor's Princeton University Senior Thesis: "The Impact of the Life of Luis Muñoz Marin on the Political and Economic History of Puerto Rico, 1930-1975."
  17. Federal Judicial Center, "Sotomayor, Sonia"
  18. Yale Law Journal, Sonia Sotomayor's note," May 27, 2009
  19. Yale Law Journal, "Sonia Sotomayor's Yale Law Journal note 'Statehood and the Equal Footing Doctrine: The Case for Puerto Rican Seabed Rights,'" April 1979
  20. USA Today, "'The People's Justice': After decade on Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor is most outspoken on bench and off," August 8, 2019
  21. 21.0 21.1 Washington Post, "Sotomyaor wins confirmation," August 7, 2009 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "WashPost Vote" defined multiple times with different content
  22. New York Times, "Senate panel endorses Sotomayor in 13-6 vote," July 28, 2009
  23. New York Times "Souter said to be leaving court in June," April 30, 2009
  24. The Unz Review, "Obama's choices: Gird your loins," May 1, 2009
  25. Chicago Tribune, "Contrasts with court transcend ethnicity," August 7, 2009
  26. Time, "Sonia Sotomayor: A justice like no other," May 28, 2009
  27. BBC News, "Senate ends Sotomayor questioning," July 16, 2009
  28. Fox News, "'Meltdown'-proof? Sotomayor's confirmation assured?" July 14, 2009
  29. New York Times, "G.O.P., its eyes on high court, blocks a judge," June 13, 1998
  30. New York Times, "After delay, Senate approves judge for court in New York," October 3, 1998
  31. American Bar Association, "Ratings of Article III judicial nominees: 105th Congress (1997-1998)," accessed April 14, 2021
  32. 32.0 32.1 New York Times, "Woman in the news - Sotomayor, a trailblazer and a dreamer," May 27, 2009
  33. New York Times, "4 women delayed in rise to the bench," July 14, 1992
  34. New York Times, "Update; a small whittling down of federal bench vacancies," August 16, 1992
  35. Dissenting Justice, "Hatchet job: Jeffrey Rosen's utterly bankrupt analysis of Judge Sonia Sotomayor," May 4, 2009
  36. 36.0 36.1 36.2 SCOTUSblog, "STAT PACK for the Supreme Court’s 2021-22 term," July 1, 2022
  37. SCOTUSBlog.com, "Stat Pack archive," accessed April 22, 2016
  38. SCOTUSBlog, "Final Stat Pack for October Term 2016 and key takeaways," accessed April 16, 2018
  39. SCOTUSBlog, "Final Stat Pack for October Term 2017 and key takeaways," accessed October 4, 2018
  40. 40.0 40.1 40.2 Empirical SCOTUS, "2023 Stat Review," July 1, 2024
  41. 41.0 41.1 Empirical SCOTUS, "Another One Bites the Dust: End of 2022/2023 Supreme Court Term Statistics," November 16, 2023
  42. SCOTUSblog, "STAT PACK for the Supreme Court’s 2021-22 term," July 2, 2021
  43. Due to a change in the 2020 stat pack format, the agreement rate uses the rate of agreement in judgment.
  44. Due to a change in the 2021 stat pack format, the agreement rate uses the rate of agreement in judgment.
  45. SCOTUSblog, "2020-21 Stat pack: Frequency in the majority," July 2, 2021
  46. SCOTUSblog, "Frequency in the Majority," accessed September 21, 2020
  47. SCOTUSblog, "OT18 Frequency in the Majority," accessed July 3, 2019
  48. The Supreme Court Database, "Analysis," accessed June 11, 2019
  49. Casetext, Ariz. R. Crim. P. 32.1, accessed February 27, 2023
  50. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named question
  51. 51.0 51.1 Scotusblog, In rare win for people on death row, justices chide Arizona for ignoring Supreme Court precedent accessed February 27, 2023
  52. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Opinion
  53. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Opinion2
  54. 54.0 54.1 54.2 54.3 54.4 54.5 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  55. U.S. Supreme Court, Cruz v. Arizona - "Certiorari to the Supreme Court Of Arizona," accessed February 23, 2023
  56. Supreme Court of the United States, "SALINAS v. UNITED STATES RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD: Slip opinion," decided February 3, 2021
  57. Supreme Court of the United States, "Herrera v. Wyoming," May 20, 2019
  58. 58.0 58.1 Cornell Law, "Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action," accessed June 24, 2014
  59. Time, "Where Sonia Sotomayor really stands on race," June 11, 2009Scroll to page 2
  60. Americans for Legal Immigration, "Where Sonia Sotomayor really stands on race:Time," June 18, 2009
  61. 61.0 61.1 61.2 New York Times, "Selected cases of Judge Sonia Sotomayor," accessed April 14, 2021 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "NYT Selected Cases" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "NYT Selected Cases" defined multiple times with different content
  62. Time, "How the Republicans will go after Sonia Sotomayor," July 13, 2009
  63. FindLaw, "Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: Equal Employment Opportunity," accessed April 14, 2021
  64. New York Times, "Because of race: Ricci v. DeStefano - Stanley Fish Blog," July 13, 2009
  65. SCOTUSblog, "Argument recap: Ricci v. DeStefano," April 24, 2009
  66. Legal Information Institute Bulletin, "Ricci v. DeStefano," accessed April 14, 2021
  67. Cornell Law School: Legal Information Institute, "Ricci v. DeStefano," accessed April 14, 2021
  68. Supreme Court of the United States, "Ricci v. DeStefano," accessed April 14, 2021
  69. Christian Science Monitor, "U.S. Supreme Court takes up 'reverse discrimination' case," January 9, 2009
  70. 70.0 70.1 New York Times, "Sotomayor's notable court opinions and articles," July 10, 2009
  71. OpenJurist, "Riverkeeper Inc. v. United States Envrionmental Protection Agency," accessed April 14, 2021
  72. OpenJurist, "Center for Reproductive Law and Policy v. Bush"
  73. Washington Post, "Abortion rights backers get reassurances on nominee," May 29, 2009
  74. OpenJurist, "John Malesko v. Correctional Services Corporation," accessed April 14, 2021
  75. Cornell Law School, "CASTLE ROCK ENTERTAINMENT, INC. v. CAROL PUBLISHING GROUP, 150 F.3d 132 (2nd Cir. 1998) (LOISLAW)," accessed April 14, 2021
  76. Justia.com, "Castle Rock Entertainment, Inc. v. Carol Publishing Group, Inc. and Beth B. Golub," accessed April 14, 2021
  77. 77.0 77.1 CNN, "Sotomayor's resume, record on notable cases," accessed April 14, 2021
  78. OpenJurist.com, "New York Times Company Inc. v. Jonathan Tasini," accessed April 14, 2021
  79. Justia.com, "New York Times Co., Inc. v. Tasini et al.," accessed April 14, 2021
  80. New York Times, "Sotomayor's baseball ruling lingers, 14 years later," May 26, 2009
  81. OpenJurist.com, "Silverman v. Major League Baseball Player Relations Committee Inc.," accessed April 14, 2021
  82. The Employment Law Post, "Sotomayor's district court decisions on traditional labor matters," June 16, 2009
  83. New York Times, "Sotomayor, baseball's savior, may be possibility for high court," May 14, 2009
  84. New York Times, "BASEBALL: Woman in the news; strike-zone arbitrator -- Sonia Sotomayor," April 1, 1995
  85. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, "A summary of media related decisions by Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor," accessed April 14, 2021
  86. U.S. Department of Justice, "FOIA update: significant new decisions (1995)," January 1, 1995
  87. First Amendment Center, "Sotomayor on the First Amendment," May 28, 2009, archived on April 23, 2010

Political offices
Preceded by
-
Supreme Court of the United States
2009-Present
Succeeded by
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Preceded by
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United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit
1998-2009
Succeeded by
-
Preceded by
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United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
1992-1998
Succeeded by
-