Sonia Sotomayor Confirmed as First Woman of Color on the U.S. Supreme Court
Newly-confirmed U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
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The U.S. Senate has confirmed Sonia Sotomayor as the newest justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. She was confirmed by a margin of 68 to 31.
The 55 year-old Sotomayor is the first Puerto Rican, the first Latina, and the first Woman of color to serve on the high court. She also becomes the 111th justice overall, and only the third woman to hold this powerful lifelong appointment.
Like the other women of color appointed by President Obama, Justice Sotomayor has a stellar record of academic and professional achievement. Raised in a housing project in the South Bronx, she holds a B.A. from Princeton University (summa cum laude, 1976) and a law degree from Yale University, where she was an editor of the Yale Law Journal. She worked as an assistant D.A. in New York City before moving into private practice. In 1991 she was nominated to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by President George H. W. Bush. She was confirmed in 1992.
Posted by Ajuan Mance
Posted in Current Events, Higher Education, Princeton, Yale