In Celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month....

Sonia Sotomayor

Sotomayor was born in The Bronx, New York City and is of Puerto Rican descent. Her father died when she was nine, and she was raised by her mother. Sotomayor graduated with an A.B. from Princeton University in 1976 and received her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1979. She was an advocate for the hiring of Latino faculty at both schools. She worked as an assistant district attorney in New York for five years before going into private practice. She played an important role on the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, the State of New York Mortgage Agency, and the New York City Campaign Finance Board.
Sotomayor was nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by President George H. W. Bush in 1991, and her nomination was confirmed in 1992. In 1997, President Bill Clinton nominated her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Her nomination was slowed but she was eventually confirmed in 1998.
In May 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Sotomayor for appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court to replace retired Justice David Souter. Her nomination was confirmed by the United States Senate in August 2009.

Sotomayor is the Court's 111th justice, its first Hispanic justice in the Supreme Court, and its third female justice.