Cardozo was first, but was he Hispanic?
— -- Sonia Sotomayor's Puerto Rican heritage would make her the first Hispanic to serve on the nation's highest court — unless you count Benjamin Cardozo, who was on the court from 1932 to 1938.
As news of Sotomayor's nomination spread, so did the question of whether she truly would be the first Hispanic on the court.
"So far as I know whether one was 'Hispanic' was not an issue for Cardozo in his day. I don't remember ever having run across the term in contemporary relevant writing," says Cardozo biographer and Harvard Law professor Andrew Kaufman.
The Cardozo family legend is that they came from Portugal, Kaufman says, and the family tree cites their heritage as Sephardic Jews from the Iberian Peninsula. "Many Spanish would deny Portuguese are Hispanic," he says.
Hispanic groups say Sotomayor is the first Hispanic Supreme Court nominee. "She is recognized by the community," says Liz Lopez, of the Hispanic National Bar Association.
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