The first Latina member in the High Court: Sonia Sotomayor

Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina member in the High Court, has characterized by her determined nature. People have acknowledged her journey to success and have been inspired to pursue their dreams like she has. Being the diligent and fearless person she is, Sotomayor has dealt with many challenges to achieving her goal or becoming a judge.
Sotomayor was born on June 25, 1954, in the South Bronx of New York City. She said that she was inspired by an episode of Perry Mason where she saw what a prosecutor does and what a judge does. She liked that the judge decided whether or not to dismiss the case, and then she decided that was what she was going to do.
When her father passed away in 1963, her mother wanted to focus on her children’s future. She wanted them to become better at English and her mother made many sacrifices to allow Sotomayor and her brother to improve in education, thus paving their way to a successful future.
After graduating from Cardinal Spellman High School, Sotomayor went to Princeton University. In the beginning, she experienced difficulties and low marks on the midterms. She decided to take more English and writing classes to strengthen her language skills. During this time, she also made an effort to become involved in diversity groups, such as the Third World Center, which was renamed in 2002 to Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding. Soon, she became more committed to these groups, which allowed her to become more familiar with her new surroundings. Sotomayor made a great effort and finally graduated summa cum laude from Princeton in 1976, with a Bachelor’s degree in history.
Yale Law School was her next destination where she became an editor for the Yale Law Journal. After receiving her Juris Doctorate (JD) in 1979, she immediately began work and became an assistant district attorney in Manhattan, dealing with a range of crimes from misdemeanors to murder. From the beginning of her career, she has been dedicated to putting criminals behind bars.
Her outstanding work was recognized by Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Ted Kennedy when they recommended her as a nominee for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in November of 1991. She was then nominated by President George H.W Bush for the position. Slowly, she gained fame for her unproblematic and unbiased judgement in cases. She served in that position until 1998 when President Bill Clinton appointed her as a judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Sotomayor dealt with more than 3,000 cases for the next decade, until President Barack Obama nominated her as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court on May 26, 2009. She was then the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice and third woman to become an associate judge on the Supreme Court.

Sonia Sotomayor is one of the many people that have impacted the Hispanic community for persevering through life and working so hard for her desires. She is a role model for those pursuing a career in justice.
Sources:
● https://www.oyez.org/justices/sonia_sotomayor
● https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/biography-sonia-sotomayor/
● https://www.biography.com/law-figure/sonia-sotomayor