Ethics

Sotomayor Is The Nominee

By Ed Brayton

The New York Times reports that President Obama has chosen Judge Sonia Sotomayor as his nominee to replace Justice Souter. Sotomayor is a judge on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. If confirmed, which seems a near-certainty barring serious scandal, she will be the first Hispanic justice to serve on the Supreme Court.

Sotomayor's life story in many ways mirrors that of the president himself. She was raised by a single mother in a decidedly unprivileged environment but ended up graduating summa cum laude from Princeton University and went on to Yale Law School. Interestingly, she was first nominated to the federal bench by the first President Bush in 1991, then elevated to the appeals court by President Clinton in 1997.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on May 26, 2009 (boomark / email).