Souter out, Sotomayor in

Category: National

When U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter announced he would be retiring from the bench in June, President Obama was handed the opportunity to not only make his first Supreme Court nomination mere months after taking office, but to begin crafting his legacy in law. After weeks of speculation, Obama on Tuesday nominated U.S. appeals court Judge Sonia Sotomayor.

In his introduction, Obama praised Sotomayor as someone who will bring to the Court “not only the knowledge and experience acquired over a course of a brilliant legal career, but the wisdom accumulated from an inspiring life’s journey.”

If confirmed by the Senate, Sotomayor, 54, would be the first Hispanic and only the third woman to ever sit on the Supreme Court. The daughter of Puerto Rican immigrants, Sotomayor grew up in a Bronx housing project.  At age 8, she was diagnosed with diabetes. A year later, her father died, leaving her mother to raise her and a brother.

Sotomayor rose above her difficult beginnings. After graduating summa cum laude from Princeton University and then Yale Law School, she worked as a prosecutor and private attorney before being appointed a federal judge for the Southern District of New York by President George H.W. Bush in 1992. She became an appeals judge in 1998 for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, which covers New York, Vermont and Connecticut.

Her nomination doesn’t come as a complete surprise, since her name had been floated as a possibility ever since Souter’s announcement on May 1. She was high on the replacement list in part because of her personal story of triumphant over adversity. But she’s not without judicial merit. Supporters say she questions lawyers vigorously and delivers well-considered decisions. Baseball fans applauded one of those decisions in 1995, when Sotomayor ended the major league baseball strike.

Progressive activists already are cheering the pick. “We already know that she is a brilliant lawyer who is committed to ruling based on the Constitution and the law, not on her own personal political views,” said Doug Kendall, president of the liberal Constitution Accountability Center.

Obama supporters may be enthusiastic about his choice, but the love doesn’t necessarily reach across the aisle. Earlier this month, conservative talk radio hosts began questioning her credibility, and anonymous lawyers and law clerks attacked her temperament and intellect.

And last weekend, before Sotomayor officially became the nominee, Republican lawmakers said they would attempt a filibuster against her confirmation. It’s uncertain how far Republicans can go to block her appointment, especially since seven of their 40 members voted to confirm her in 1998.

Obama has said he wants to see Sotomayor confirmed by the start of the Senate’s five-week recess, slated to begin Aug. 7. Almost certainly this means a summer filled with political fireworks, as Democrats and Republicans try to make the case before the public for and against the nominee. In the end, Obama’s pick won’t change the ideological composition of the Court overnight. But the President’s decision to choose an Hispanic woman will likely have long-lasting political, legal, and social effects for the Court and the country.

Tags: Supreme Court