President Barack Obama has nominated Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.

The president began his search for a new justice when David Souter announced that he would be retiring when the U.S. Supreme Court adjourns for its summer recess.
 
“The process of reviewing and selecting a successor to Justice Souter has been rigorous and comprehensive,” said the president. “After completing this exhaustive process, I have decided to nominate an inspiring woman who I believe will make a great justice: Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the great state of New York.”
 
The right candidate to fill David’s shoes had a tall order to fill as they had to posses a few key qualities. President Obama said he wanted the candidate to have a keen intellect, a mastery of law, the ability to answer complex legal questions and a clear idea of what their role as a justice entails.
 
“A judge's job is to interpret, not make, law; to approach decisions without any particular ideology or agenda, but rather a commitment to impartial justice,” President Obama explained today.
 
From her résumé and background, it seems that Sonia is more than up to the task. She is a graduate of Princeton University and Yale University. Her 30-year career has seen her act as Manhattan’s Assistant District Attorney, a corporate litigator and a trial judge.
 
While still in here 30s, Sonia was nominated to the U.S. District Court by George H. W.Bush in 1992. As the youngest member of the court, she presided over 450 cases during her tenure. President Bill Clinton appointed her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1998.
 
The Puerto Rican judge has also made time to sharpen tomorrow’s great legal minds. She served as a lecturer at Columbia University Law School, and up until 2007, she was as an adjunct professor at New York University Law School.
 
If confirmed, Sonia will be the first Latina on the U.S. Supreme Court.

-- Sonya Eskridge

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