Obama nominates Sotomayor to Supreme Court

WASHINGTON -- President Obama's historic choice of appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor would give the nation's highest court its first Latina voice, a second female perspective, and for the first time in nearly two decades the experience of an individual from a truly humble background.

Sotomayor, 54, the child of Puerto Rican immigrants, was raised in a housing project in the Bronx. Her father died when she was 9. Her mother worked six days a week as a nurse to support her daughter and a son. Sotomayor won a scholarship to Princeton and then attended Yale Law School.

In announcing her nomination to succeed retiring Justice David Souter, President Obama called Sotomayor an "inspiring woman who I believe will make a great justice."

With her standing at his side at the White House, Obama noted that Sotomayor's legal career over the three decades included tenure as a New York prosecutor, corporate litigator and trial judge (appointed by the first President Bush in 1992) before becoming an appeals court judge (elevated by President Clinton in 1998).

Obama said she has the depth of legal experience necessary for the high court yet has also been "tested by obstacles and hardships" and brings the common touch he has sought.

"My heart today is bursting with gratitude," Sotomayor said. "I stand on the shoulders of countless people." Sotomayor then singled out her "life aspiration," her mother whom she said devoted herself to her daughter and son, who became a physician.

All nine of the current justices are former federal appeals court judges. As a sitting judge, Sotomayor would not break that pattern. Yet, her distinct background would bring the kind of "quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with people's hopes and struggles" that Obama has famously said he was seeking.

Not since the 1991 nomination of Clarence Thomas, born in poverty near Savannah and reared by grandparents, has a nominee overcome such personal odds.

Sotomayor would be the second woman on the current court, with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and the third woman ever appointed. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who retired in 2006, was the first when she was named in 1981.

The nomination was immediately praised by civil rights groups. "The Supreme Court should reflect the diverse population of the United States to ensure that our nation's highest court understands the unique circumstances of all Americans," said Brent Wilkes, national executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens.

At the same time, critics quickly emerged. Roger Pilon of the libertarian Cato Institute said President Obama chose "the most radical of all the frequently mentioned candidates before him."

Among Sotomayor's more controversial votes was for a decision currently pending at the Supreme Court that allowed the city of New Haven to throw out the results of a firefighter promotion test because blacks and Hispanics scored disproportionately low. The high court is currently considering whether the so-called "reverse discrimination" case violated the rights of white firefighters who say they were denied promotions.

In a 2005 appearance at Duke University School of Law, Sotomayor said "the court of appeals is where policy is made." She quickly added, "I know this is on tape and I should never say that, because we don't make law, I know. Um, okay. I know. I'm not promoting it, I'm not advocating it."

Yet, much of Sotomayor's work as a trial judge and then on the New York-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit has involved business matters rather than incendiary social topics such as abortion and the death penalty.

As a trial court judge, she issued an order that helped end the baseball strike of 1994-95. "Some say the judge saved baseball," Obama said Tuesday.

Her nomination would go before the Senate this summer. The Senate Judiciary Committee is likely to begin hearings in mid-July. "She has been nominated by both Democratic and Republican presidents, and she was twice confirmed by the Senate with strong, bipartisan support," said Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, of Vermont. "Having a Supreme Court that better reflects the diversity of America helps ensure that we keep faith with the words engraved in Vermont marble over the entrance of the Supreme Court: 'Equal justice under law.' "

Several Senate Republicans said they might push for extra time to review Sotomayor's record. "Senate Republicans will treat Judge Sotomayor fairly," said GOP leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky. "But we will thoroughly examine her record to ensure she understands that the role of a jurist in our democracy is to apply the law even-handedly, despite their own feelings or personal or political preferences. Accordingly, we trust they will ensure there is adequate time to prepare for this nomination, and a full and fair opportunity to question the nominee and debate her qualifications."

Thomas Goldstein, a Washington lawyer who founded a Supreme Court website and has reviewed her opinions, said, "Our surveys of her opinions put her in essentially the same ideological position as Justice Souter. In the ideological cases where her rulings have been reviewed by the Supreme Court (including the pending New Hampshire case), her views have aligned with the left of the current Court."

Separately, Cornell law professor Michael Dorf said Tuesday, "Her experience as a judge on the 2nd Circuit — with a large commercial and corporate docket— will bring an important perspective to a Court that will increasingly face important issues regarding the regulation of the national economy."

In her remarks Tuesday, Sotomayor noted that she had grown up in "very modest and challenging circumstances," yet considered herself quite rich in opportunity.

Cardinal Spellman High School, a Catholic school in the Bronx where Sotomayor graduated in 1972 was buzzing with the news Tuesday, said Jennifer Rivera, director of advancement.

"We're thrilled. She is still a good friend of the school," Rivera says. "It's been going around the school. Everybody knows that this is happening. It's a very exciting thing." Sotomayor, who was on the debate team and student government while at Spellman, spoke at Career Day at the school in 2006, and has hosted groups of students from the school for visits to her courtroom.