President Barack Obama continues to make history, and his selection of federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor is yet another historic step. Upon confirmation by the Senate, Sotomayor would become the nation’s first Hispanic on the Supreme Court.
President Barack Obama continues to make history, and his selection of federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor is yet another historic step. Upon confirmation by the Senate, Sotomayor would become the nation’s first Hispanic on the Supreme Court.
Obama has touted Sotomayor as immensely qualified, and called her compassionate and seasoned, with more experience on the bench than any of the current nine members had when they were elevated. With her upbringing in a South Bronx housing complex after her family moved from Puerto Rico, Sotomayor brings a sensitivity and a sensibility to the Court that has been sorely lacking.
But no one should be surprised that this president, who honed his sense of right and wrong, his sense of championing diversity on the streets of Chicago, made this historic choice. President Obama was swept into office with the slogan, “Yes we can,” and his “we” was inclusive. That is why he was able to reach across racial, social and financial barriers to forge a coalition of voters who felt, as he did, that we are all in this together, and that the change we were waiting for is ours to make.
Obama has made a change with his nomination of Sotomayor, who will replace Associate Justice David Souter, who earlier this month announced his intention to retire. She is ideologically liberal, but more importantly she has the temperament and the sensitivity that promises that there will be no “big” voices and “little” voices before the court.
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