Sonia Sotomayor: A Look at Obama's Supreme Court Pick

As an appeals court judge, Sotomayor wrote the 2005 opinion striking down a court order preventing the news media from publishing jurors' names that had been read aloud in open court during the trial of former investment banker Frank Quattrone. Quattrone faced charges of interfering with a federal investigation into securities fraud, but the charges were eventually dropped. In 2006, again writing for the court, Sotomayor upheld warrantless searches of ferry riders who crossed Lake Champlain. She ruled that the federal government had an important interest in protecting the ferry from terrorism.

Among Sotomayor's civic activities has been service as a member of the board of directors of the New York City Campaign Finance Board, the State of New York Mortgage Agency, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Maternity Center Association. Her awards have included honorary degrees from Princeton University and Brooklyn Law School in 2001 and from Herbert L. Lehman College in 1999.