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Finally, A Wise Latina Justice on the SCotUS Bench
August 9, 2009
Sotomayor Sworn In as Supreme Court Justice
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
WASHINGTON — Justice Sonia Sotomayor took the judicial oath on Saturday, becoming the first Hispanic and third woman to serve on the Supreme Court in United States history.
At just past 11 a.m., Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. administered a pair of oaths to her in two private ceremonies at the Supreme Court building, completing her ascent to a life-tenured position as the nation’s 111th justice, and the first to be nominated by a Democratic president since 1994.
In the first ceremony, which took place in the justice’s conference room and was attended only by her relatives and a court photographer, she took the standard oath affirmed by all federal employees, swearing to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
She and the chief justice then walked to the court’s East Conference Room for the judicial oath, in which she stood before about 60 friends and family members and swore to “administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me” under the Constitution and laws of the United States.
The appointment of Justice Sotomayor, 55, capped a life story that began in a Bronx housing project, where the Puerto Rican girl was raised by her widowed mother. She later attended two Ivy League schools, worked as a waitress at Applebees then as a prosecutor in the office of the Manhattan district attorney, and then left for a stint at a corporate law firm.
Throughout the 1980s, she also became increasingly engaged in civic life, joining the board of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund and winning appointments to the New York City Campaign Finance Board and the board of the State of New York Mortgage Agency.
Her rise brought her to the attention of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Democrat of New York, who recommended that President George H.W. Bush appoint her to the federal bench. President Bill Clinton later elevated her to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She spent 17 years as a federal judge before President Obama nominated her in May to succeed retiring Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter.
Saturday’s oath-taking ceremonies brought to a close a 10-week confirmation battle in which Republicans attacked her as an alleged “judicial activist,” citing speeches she had made on topics like foreign law and the role of diversity on the judiciary, including a now-famous comment about the superior judgment of a “wise Latina.”
They also criticized her votes in cases involving Second Amendment rights, property rights, and a racial discrimination lawsuit brought by white firefighters in New Haven.
But Democrats insisted that Judge Sotomayor was a highly qualified, mainstream and moderate jurist, and in the end Democrats’ numerical advantage in the Senate virtually ensured her success. The Senate on Thursday voted 68 to 31 to confirm her in a largely party-line vote: No Democrat voted against her, while all but 9 of the chamber’s 40 Republicans did so.
Although Justice Sotomayor is now a full member of the court, entitled to move into her new chambers and prepare for her first case — a campaign-finance dispute left over from the court’s last term — she still has several rituals yet to attend.
President Obama, who did not attend Saturday’s events, will be at a White House ceremony on Wednesday in Justice Sotomayor’s honor. And on Sept. 8, the Supreme Court will hold a special invitation-only investiture ceremony — a special sitting at which she will take her seat on the dais for the first time, probably followed by an appearance alongside Chief Justice Roberts for a traditional picture on the front steps of the court.
Sotomayor Sworn In as Supreme Court Justice
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
WASHINGTON — Justice Sonia Sotomayor took the judicial oath on Saturday, becoming the first Hispanic and third woman to serve on the Supreme Court in United States history.
At just past 11 a.m., Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. administered a pair of oaths to her in two private ceremonies at the Supreme Court building, completing her ascent to a life-tenured position as the nation’s 111th justice, and the first to be nominated by a Democratic president since 1994.
In the first ceremony, which took place in the justice’s conference room and was attended only by her relatives and a court photographer, she took the standard oath affirmed by all federal employees, swearing to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
She and the chief justice then walked to the court’s East Conference Room for the judicial oath, in which she stood before about 60 friends and family members and swore to “administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me” under the Constitution and laws of the United States.
The appointment of Justice Sotomayor, 55, capped a life story that began in a Bronx housing project, where the Puerto Rican girl was raised by her widowed mother. She later attended two Ivy League schools, worked as a waitress at Applebees then as a prosecutor in the office of the Manhattan district attorney, and then left for a stint at a corporate law firm.
Throughout the 1980s, she also became increasingly engaged in civic life, joining the board of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund and winning appointments to the New York City Campaign Finance Board and the board of the State of New York Mortgage Agency.
Her rise brought her to the attention of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Democrat of New York, who recommended that President George H.W. Bush appoint her to the federal bench. President Bill Clinton later elevated her to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She spent 17 years as a federal judge before President Obama nominated her in May to succeed retiring Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter.
Saturday’s oath-taking ceremonies brought to a close a 10-week confirmation battle in which Republicans attacked her as an alleged “judicial activist,” citing speeches she had made on topics like foreign law and the role of diversity on the judiciary, including a now-famous comment about the superior judgment of a “wise Latina.”
They also criticized her votes in cases involving Second Amendment rights, property rights, and a racial discrimination lawsuit brought by white firefighters in New Haven.
But Democrats insisted that Judge Sotomayor was a highly qualified, mainstream and moderate jurist, and in the end Democrats’ numerical advantage in the Senate virtually ensured her success. The Senate on Thursday voted 68 to 31 to confirm her in a largely party-line vote: No Democrat voted against her, while all but 9 of the chamber’s 40 Republicans did so.
Although Justice Sotomayor is now a full member of the court, entitled to move into her new chambers and prepare for her first case — a campaign-finance dispute left over from the court’s last term — she still has several rituals yet to attend.
President Obama, who did not attend Saturday’s events, will be at a White House ceremony on Wednesday in Justice Sotomayor’s honor. And on Sept. 8, the Supreme Court will hold a special invitation-only investiture ceremony — a special sitting at which she will take her seat on the dais for the first time, probably followed by an appearance alongside Chief Justice Roberts for a traditional picture on the front steps of the court.
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