Discover the defining moments in the early life of Sonia Sotomayor. From birth to education, explore key events.
Sonia Sotomayor is an American lawyer and jurist serving as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Nominated by President Barack Obama on May 26, 2009, she assumed office on August 8, 2009. Sotomayor holds the distinction of being the first Hispanic and only the third woman to serve as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice.
On June 25, 1954, Sonia Maria Sotomayor was born. She is an American lawyer and jurist.
In 1957, Sonia Sotomayor's family moved to the Bronxdale Houses housing project in Soundview.
In 1964, Sonia Sotomayor's father, Juan Sotomayor, passed away when she was nine years old.
In 1970, Sonia Sotomayor's family moved to Co-op City in the Northeast Bronx to escape increasing heroin use, crime, and gang activity in the Bronxdale Houses.
In 1972, Sonia Sotomayor graduated as valedictorian from Cardinal Spellman High School in the Bronx.
In April 1974, Acción Puertorriqueña filed a formal letter of complaint with the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, alleging discrimination in hiring and admission practices at Princeton.
On August 14, 1976, Sotomayor married Kevin Edward Noonan in a small chapel at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. She used the name Sonia Sotomayor de Noonan.
In 1976, Sonia Sotomayor graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University with an A.B. in history and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
In 1976, Sonia Sotomayor married Kevin Edward Noonan.
In December 1978, news of the apology from the law firm Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge for suggesting during a recruiting dinner that Sotomayor was at Yale only because of affirmative action was made public in The Washington Post after Sotomayor filed a complaint.
In 1979, Sonia Sotomayor received her Juris Doctor from Yale Law School, where she served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal.
In 1979, Sonia Sotomayor was awarded a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School.
In 1980, Sotomayor began serving on the board of directors of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. There, she worked with lawyers on issues like New York City hiring practices, police brutality, the death penalty, and voting rights.
In 1983, Sonia Sotomayor and Kevin Edward Noonan divorced amicably, citing the pressures of her working life as a contributing factor.
In 1985, Sotomayor began her service on the board of the Maternity Center Association, a Manhattan-based nonprofit organization focused on improving maternity care.
In 1986, Sonia Sotomayor appeared on Good Morning America, where she discussed her life ten years after college graduation.
In 1986, Sotomayor continued her service on the board of the Maternity Center Association, contributing to the organization's efforts to enhance maternity care in Manhattan.
In 1988, Ed Koch, the Mayor of New York City, appointed Sotomayor as one of the founding members of the New York City Campaign Finance Board. She served there for four years, helping to implement a voluntary scheme where local candidates received public funds in exchange for contribution limits, spending limits, and financial disclosure agreements.
On November 27, 1991, President George H. W. Bush nominated Sotomayor to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
In 1991, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan recommended Sotomayor for a judgeship, fulfilling a promise to appoint a Hispanic judge for New York. Senator Al D'Amato enthusiastically backed her.
In June 1992, Sotomayor's Senate Judiciary Committee hearings went smoothly, with her pro bono activities earning praise and unanimous approval from the committee.
In 1992, Sotomayor ended her service on the board of directors of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, concluding a 12-year period of active involvement in policymaking and legal work on various social justice issues.
In 2013, Sotomayor's memoir, "My Beloved World (Mi mundo adorado)", was published and became a New York Times Best Seller. The book focused on her life up to 1992.
In 1994, Major League Baseball experienced a strike that lasted 232 days and was ultimately ended by Sotomayor's injunction in March 1995.
On June 25, 1997, President Bill Clinton nominated Sotomayor to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
During her September 1997 hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sotomayor faced strong questioning from Republican members about mandatory sentencing, gay rights, and her respect for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
In March 1998, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved Sotomayor's nomination, with two dissensions.
In June 1998, the Wall Street Journal editorial page criticized Sotomayor's district court rulings and urged further delay of her confirmation to the Second Circuit.
On October 2, 1998, Sotomayor was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit by a 67–29 vote.
In 1998, Sonia Sotomayor reflected on how she was inspired to pursue a legal career and become a judge after watching the TV series Perry Mason.
In 1998, Sotomayor began working as an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law, teaching trial and appellate advocacy and a federal appellate court seminar until 2007.
In 1999, Sotomayor received an honorary law degree from Lehman College.
In 1999, Sotomayor started as a lecturer in law at Columbia Law School in a paying, adjunct faculty position.
In 2000, Sotomayor created and co-taught a class called the Federal Appellate Externship each semester at Columbia Law School, until her departure.
In October 2001, Sotomayor presented the annual Judge Mario G. Olmos Memorial Lecture at UC Berkeley School of Law, titled "A Latina Judge's Voice."
In 2001, Sotomayor received honorary law degrees from Princeton University and Brooklyn Law School.
In 2002, Sotomayor's lecture, "A Latina Judge's Voice", which she delivered in October 2001, was published in the Berkeley La Raza Law Journal.
In 2003, Sotomayor received an honorary law degree from Pace University School of Law.
In 2005, Senate Democrats suggested Sotomayor, among others, to President George W. Bush as an acceptable nominee to fill the seat of retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
In 2006, Sotomayor became a member of Princeton University's Board of Trustees, concluding her term in 2011.
In 2006, Sotomayor received an honorary law degree from Hofstra University.
In 2007, Sotomayor concluded her time as an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law, where she had been teaching since 1998.
In 2007, Sotomayor received an honorary law degree from Northeastern University School of Law.
In 2008, Sotomayor became a member of the Belizean Grove, an invitation-only women's group.
On June 19, 2009, Sotomayor resigned from the Belizean Grove after Republican politicians voiced concerns over the group's membership policy.
In 2010, Sotomayor received honorary law degrees from Howard University, St. Lawrence University, and Paris Nanterre University.
In 2010, Sotomayor signed a contract with Alfred A. Knopf to publish a memoir about her early life and received an advance of nearly $1.2 million.
In 2012, Sotomayor received an honorary law degree from New York University.
In 2013, Sotomayor received an honorary law degree from Yale University.
In 2013, Sotomayor's memoir, "My Beloved World (Mi mundo adorado)", was published and became a New York Times Best Seller. The book focused on her life up to 1992.
In 2014, Sotomayor received an honorary law degree from the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras.
In 2019, Sotomayor received an honorary doctorate of human letters from Manhattan University.
In 2021, Sonia Sotomayor's mother, Celina Báez, passed away.
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