Senate Confirms Sonia Sotomayor for Supreme Court

Judge Sonia Sotomayor has risen from the housing projects of the Bronx to the top of the legal profession. She made history Thursday when she was confirmed by the U. S. Senate to become the nation's first Hispanic Supreme Court justice. She was easily confirmed in a 68-31 vote.

Judge Sotomayor, a federal appeals court judge, will be the 111th person to sit on the high court and the third female justice. She will be sworn in at the Supreme Court on Saturday. President Obama, who selected Sotomayor on May 26, said he was "deeply gratified" by the Senate vote. He called it a wonderful day for America.

Judge Sotomayor's confirmation capped an extraordinary rise from humble beginnings. Her parents came to New York from Puerto Rico during World War II. Her father worked in a factory and didn't speak English.
She was born in the Bronx and grew up in a public housing project, not far from the stadium of her favorite team, the New York Yankees. Her father died when she was 9, leaving her mother to raise her and her younger brother. Her mother, whom Ms. Sotomayor has described as her biggest inspiration, worked six days a week to care for her and her brother, and instilled in them the value of an education. Judge Sotomayor later graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University and went on to attend Yale Law School, where she was editor of the Yale Law Journal.

She worked at nearly every level of the judicial system over a three-decade career before being chosen by President Obama to replace retiring Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court. Accepting the nomination, Sotomayor thanked Obama for "the most humbling honor of my life." Sotomayor presided over about 450 cases while on the district court. Before her judicial appointments, she was a partner at a private law firm and spent time as an assistant district attorney prosecuting violent crimes.

After the selection, Sotomayor was touted by her supporters as a justice with bipartisan favor and historic appeal. She has served as a judge on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals since 1998. She was named a district judge by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 and was elevated to her current seat by President Clinton.