Sonia Sotomayor Bio
Sonia Sotomayor (Maria) is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Nominated by President Barack Obama on May 26, 2009. Sotomayor became the first Latina Supreme Court Justice in U.S. history.
Sonia Sotomayor Age
Sotomayor Maria was born on born 25 June 1954, in the Bronx borough, New York City in the United States. She is 65 years as of 2019.
Sonia Sotomayor Family
Sotomayor was born to Puerto Rican-born parents Juan and Celina Baez Sotomayor. She was born as the elder of two children. Her mother is a nurse at a methadone clinic and also works as a telephone operator.
Sonia’s father, Juan Sotomayor had a third-grade education therefore, he did not speak English, was a tool-and-die worker. Juan Sotomayor died of heart problems at age 42 when she was nine, after the death of her father. Her mother worked long hours as a nurse to support the family.
Sonia Sotomayor Husband And Children
On August 14, 1976, just after graduating from Princeton, Sotomayor married Kevin Edward Noonan, whom she had dated since high school in a small chapel at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.
She used the married name, Sonia Sotomayor de Noonan. He became a biologist and a patent lawyer. When her husband died in 1963, Celina worked hard to raise her children as a single parent.
She placed an “almost fanatical emphasis” on higher education, pushing the children to become fluent in English and making huge sacrifices to purchase a set of encyclopedias that would give them proper research materials for school.
Sonia Sotomayor Education
Sotomayor graduated from Cardinal Spellman High School in the Bronx in 1972 and entered the Ivy League, attending Princeton University. She graduated as valedictorian in 1972.
Sotomayor entered Yale Law School in 1976 once more on a scholarship. She is known as a hard worker but she is not considered among the star students in her class. She became an editor of the Yale Law Journal and was also managing editor of the student-run Yale Studies in World Public Order publication.
Sonia Sotomayor Supreme Court
Following Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential election victory, speculation arose that Sotomayor could be a leading candidate for a Supreme Court seat. New York Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand wrote a joint letter to Obama urging him to appoint Sotomayor to the Supreme Court if a vacancy should arise during his term.
The White House first contacted Sotomayor on April 27, 2009, about the possibility of her nomination. Obama informed Sotomayor of his choice and he nominated her. President Obama commissioned Sotomayor on the day of her confirmation, and her swearing-in ceremony took place on August 8, 2009, at the Supreme Court Building.
Chief Justice John Roberts administered the prescribed constitutional and judicial oaths of office, at which time she became the 111th justice of the Supreme Court.
Justiceship
Sotomayor cast her first vote as an associate Supreme Court justice on August 17, 2009, in a stay of execution case. She was given a warm welcome onto the Court and was formally invested in a September 8 ceremony. Sotomayor’s inaugural case in which she heard arguments was on September 9 during a special session, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.
It involved the controversial aspect of the First Amendment and the rights of corporations in campaign finance; Sotomayor dissented. In her vigorous examination of Floyd Abrams, representing the First Amendment issues in the case, Sotomayor challenged him, questioning 19th century rulings of the Court and saying, “What you are suggesting is that the courts, who created corporations as persons, gave birth to corporations as persons, and there could be an argument made that that was the Court’s error to start with … [imbuing] a creature of State law with human characteristics.”
Sotomayor’s first major written opinion was a dissent in the Berghuis v. Thompkins case dealing with Miranda rights. As her first year neared completion, Sotomayor said she felt swamped by the intensity and heavy workload of the job. During the oral arguments for the National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, Sotomayor showed her increasing familiarity with the Court and its protocols by directing the opening questions of the arguments to Donald Verrilli, the Solicitor General who was representing the government’s position.
Sonia Sotomayor Diabetes
Sonia grew up with an alcoholic father and a mother who was emotionally distant; she felt closest to her grandmother, who she later said gave her a source of “protection and purpose”.
She is first inspired by the strong-willed Nancy Drew book character, and then after her diabetes diagnosis led doctors to suggest a different career from the detective, she was inspired to go into a legal career and become a judge by watching the Perry Mason television series.
Sonia Sotomayor Book
My Beloved World is a memoir written by Sonia Sotomayor. The first Hispanic justice on the United States Supreme Court was about her childhood, education, and life through 1992.
Sotomayor staged an eleven-city book tour to promote her work. With appearances intermingled with Supreme Court deliberations in Washington and two swearings-in thereof Vice President Joe Biden hence for the inauguration of his second term.
Indeed, the time of Biden’s first, official swearing-in (on a Sunday, with the public one held the next day) was moved up from around noon to around 8 a.m. in order to accommodate Sotomayor’s previously arranged book signing at a Barnes & Noble store in New York on Sunday afternoon.
In Sotomayor’s appearance on The Daily Show, she described the book’s primary purpose as a way “to remember the real Sonia” also, to remind herself of her humble beginnings and the obstacles she had to overcome throughout her childhood. A signing at an Austin, Texas book store attracted estimates of 700 to 1,500 people.
In an appearance at New York’s Spanish Harlem-located El Museo del Barrio before a capacity crowd of 600 people. She engaged the audience by answering questions in both Spanish and English.
Sonia Sotomayor Accomplishments
Sonia Sotomayor is the first Hispanic justice nominee on the United States Supreme Court. Sotomayor is a controversial and outspoken candidate.
In 2009, she became the Court’s 111th Justice hence the first Hispanic Justice and third woman to serve in the US Supreme Court. Through her hard work and dedication, Sotomayor has become a role model to follow more so for all those Hispanics that are trying to get an education and a great career.
For Sotomayor, it did not come easy, but she made success a necessity not an option. She is living proof of the American Dream.
Sonia Sotomayor Net Worth
Sonia Sotomayor is an Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court who has a net worth of $6 million.
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