Bronx girl makes good: Appeals judge is first Latina and fourth woman to be nominated to US Supreme Court

From The Electric New Paper, June 1, 2009

Bronx girl makes good: Appeals judge is first Latina and fourth woman to be nominated to US Supreme Court

PRESIDENT Barack Obama had described her as having an 'understanding of how ordinary people live', and for this, she would make a better judge.

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PRESIDENT Barack Obama had described her as having an 'understanding of how ordinary people live', and for this, she would make a better judge.

In his remarks, Mr Obama chronicled Judge Sonia Sotomayor's hardscrabble upbringing and the challenges she's faced as a diabetic, diagnosed when she was a child.

She was told then the disease meant many career options would be closed to her.

Life experience, the President said, is what gives a person a common touch, a sense of compassion and an understanding of how ordinary people live.

Said Mr Obama: 'Well, Sonia, what you've shown in your life is that it doesn't matter where you come from, what you look like or what challenges life throws your way.'

And now, as Ms Sotomayor stands to be the first Latina to serve on the Supreme Court, Mr Obama cited her as an example that no dream is beyond reach in the United States.

Ms Sotomayor's parents were born in Puerto Rico and moved to New York during World War II.

Her father, a factory worker, died when she was 9. Her mother was a nurse.

They lived in the Bronx projects, where drugs and gangs were commonplace in the early days, reported New York Daily News.

Moments after President Obama nominated Ms Sotomayor, 54, a federal appeals judge, on Tuesday, she launched into a touching tribute to her mother, Mrs Celina Sotomayor.

The judge described her mother as the pillar for her success, and the woman who made the tough life they had more bearable.

Life aspiration

She said from the White House podium: 'I stand on the shoulders of countless people, yet there is one extraordinary person who is my life aspiration. My mother has devoted her life to my brother and me.

'I have often said that I am all I am because of her, and I am only half the woman she is.'

She cited her life as '... a story of what hope, hard work, education and dedication to make a better life can achieve'.

When her mother lost her husband, she faced a prospect of raising her two children on a single paycheck. She worked harder, or about six days a week.

Ms Sotomayor said that despite the fact that she and her brother were living in the projects, her mother's emphasis on education meant that they lived wonderful, full lives, liberated from the shackles of poverty.

Mr Obama had also earlier mentioned Celina's role in her children's education, saying the mother bought 'the only set of encyclopedias in the neighbourhood'.

Ms Sotomayor said her mother revelled in what few studies were available to girls back then, when most on the island were illiterate.

Her mother would memorise each lesson by pretending to teach the trees in her backyard with a stick as a pointer.

Through her determination, Mrs Sotomayor managed to rebuild her life with a new husband and a new job at the Prospect Hospital as a telephone operator.

And it wasn't just her children's education that she cared about.

One day, her mother sat her children down and asked for their help in sending her back to school to become a registered nurse who could make more money.

Ms Sotomayor said that it was this spirit of determination that her mother had that taught her to dream and push on in her career as well.

Not only had she achieved success, but her brother too - he is a physician and living in New York.

Why speak about the past?

She said that in order to serve her country well, it was crucial to remember the resilience of those who inspired her, as well as the one thing that has defined her - her background and roots.

Struggles and hardships

While urging others to continue learning their own histories and their country's history, she said: 'But - and this is a very big but - do not forget your backgrounds and the cultures that you come from. Don't forget the struggles and hardships of your parents and grandparents.'

And her mother, who was present while the address was given, dabbed away her tears.

Mrs Sotomayor had been pleasantly surprised when the announcement was made - she was only asked to journey to Washington, but was not told about the nomination beforehand.

Of her daughter's nomination, she told The Sun Sentinel that it was in her 'wildest dreams. I would never have imagined it'.

Mrs Sotomayor added: 'I was trembling from my emotions. I knew she was going to have a good job. I never knew she would be such a great success.'

Describing herself as 'overwhelmed', she told New York Daily News: 'She is the most honest person I have ever known. I wish I could be like her. She is so good, so giving.'

But pride in being a Latina landed the younger Sotomayor in trouble when her comments in a 2001 lecture were construed as 'racist'.

In an address at the University of California, Berkeley then, she had said: 'I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would, more often than not, reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.'

The remark was in the context of her saying that 'our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging'.

Defending her, Mr Obama said: 'I'm sure she would have restated it.'

And going back to his argument of why her life experience mattered, he said: 'But if you look in the entire sweep of the essay, she was simply saying that her life experiences will give her information about struggles and hardship that people are going through - that will make her a good judge.'

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