Sonia Sotomayor

Who was the Hispanic woman who was chosen to serve as an associate justice on the US Supreme Court?

Minority groups have taken a while to hold key posts in the US legal and political branches of government, despite the presumption of equality among ethnic groups in the country. Sonia Sotomayor was the first woman from a minority group to be selected to the US Supreme Court as an associate justice (Greene 14).

We must comprehend how intelligent and educated members of minority groups are given chances to serve Americans at the highest levels. Sonia Sotomayor was nominated by president, Barack Obama in 26th May 2009; she became the first Hispanic woman to hold this position.

We will look into the early live of Sotomayor, her education and experience as well as her appointment to the US Supreme Court.

BODY

A.

Sonia Sotomayor was born in the New York City in June 1954. Both of her parents were Puerto Ricans (Greene 27). She lost her father, the age of 9. She was afterwards raised by her mother who she later described as source of inspiration. Sonia Sotomayor attended the Blessed Sacrament Grammar school. She proceeded to work at a store and later a hospital before joining the Cardinal Spellman High School in New York. She was in student government and also worked in forensics team (Greene 33).

Afterwards, she got a full scholarship for the Princeton University. She attributed her scholarship to her achievements in her high school and affirmative action. She would later state that standardization test had cultural biases and that affirmative action was important for cultural equity. She described this university as having few female students and fewer Latinos. She also realized that she was weak in English grammar and vocabulary, prompting her to put extra efforts in these areas (Greene 51).

She later became an activist. After graduating and marrying Kevin Edward Noonan, she became a patent lawyer.

In 1976, she joined the Yale Law School on a full scholarship: she benefitted from affirmative action as she had lower standardized scores (Greene 54).

B.

In 1979, she worked as an assistant to the district attorney in County of New York (Greene 55).

Between 1983 and 1986 she informally worked in her solo practice; Sotomayor and Associates where she offered legal advice to friends and family (Greene 65).

In 1984, she joined private practice in Pavia and Harcourt associates, where she participated in commercial litigation. She specialized in intellectual litigation, mediation and international law (Greene 87).

In 1992, she left Pavia and Harcourt and became a judge. In various instances, she also participated in public services. Despite her being registered as an independent, she was appointed by the governor of New York in the states’ Mortgage Agency in 1987, she held this position until 1992 (Greene 55). During her tenure, this agency conducted the largest city reconstruction project in the US. In 1988, she was appointed by Ed Koch, then Mayor of the New York City as a member of Campaign Finance Board of the city.

In 1997, she was nominated by President Clinton to seat in the US court of appeal (Greene 70).

C.

Her appointment into the most important position in her legal career occurred in 26th May 2009, as an associate justice of the US Supreme Court. Sonia Sotomayor has continued to hold this position since (Greene 111).

CONCLUSION

We have seen that Sonia Sotomayor has had a distinctive career as a lawyer and a judge/ justice in New York and the US. She has also illustrated that one does not need to have come from the majority ethnic group to have a flourishing career in law including working as an associate justice in the US Supreme Court.

We have also seen that she is an inspiration to minority groups that they can achieve their goals.

Work Cited

Greene, Meg. Sonia Sotomayor: A Biography. ABC-CLIO, 2012.