Obama Reveals Choice for Supreme Court Justice

Since Justice David H. Souter announced his intent to retire from the U.S. Supreme Court, there has been much speculation regarding President Barack Obama’s first nomination to the high court. After a long Memorial Day weekend, the wait is over. On Tuesday morning, Obama announced that he would nominate Judge Sonia Sotomayor to be the next Supreme Court justice.

If the Senate confirms Obama’s nominee, Judge Sotomayor, 54, would join Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the second woman on the current Supreme Court. In the history of the Supreme Court, she would be the third female justice and the first Hispanic justice.

Most recently, Judge Sotomayor was involved in a very high-profile discrimination case. In the case, she affirmed the city of New Haven, Connecticut’s decision to throw out tests that were used to evaluate firefighter candidates for promotion since not enough minority candidates scored high enough on the test. White firefighters who received high scores on the test and were denied promotion sued New Haven. The case is currently before the Supreme Court, and the Court’s decision could possibly have a tremendous impact on discrimination and diversity issues in employment law.

After her parents moved to New York from Puerto Rico, Judge Sotomayor was born in the Bronx on June 25, 1954. She graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University in 1976 and later attended Yale Law School. She started her legal career as a prosecutor with the Manhattan district attorney’s office and then went into private practice.

In 1992, she became a federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District Court of New York after being appointed by President George H.W. Bush. In 1997, President Bill Clinton appointed her to the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where she has served on the bench for the past 11 years.

In addition to the New Haven firefighter case, Judge Sotomayor has heard several other notable cases before her bench. For example, in 1995, she was renowned by baseball fans when she issued an injunction against Major League Baseball owners, which effectively ended the nearly eight-month-long baseball strike.

Since Judge Sotomayor has said that her ethnicity and gender are important factors in serving on the bench, her confirmation would fulfill Obama’s stated aspiration to add diversity to the Supreme Court. However, some conservative activist groups have referenced Judge Sotomayor’s statements, and Wendy E. Long, counsel to the Judicial Confirmation Network, stated, “[Judge Sotomayor] thinks that judges should dictate policy, and that one’s sex, race, and ethnicity ought to affect the decisions one renders from the bench.” Long referenced the New Haven firefighter case and further stated, “Judge Sotomayor would sacrifice [the plaintiff firefighters’] claims to fair treatment in employment promotions to racial preferences and quotas.”

Since Justice Souter was considered one of the “liberal” justices, it has been speculated that the appointment of Judge Sotomayor would likely not shift the overall balance of the Court. We will continue to keep you updated on the appointment process and how Judge Sotomayor’s appointment would affect future employment law decisions.