Results tagged “soniasotomayor”

After all the talk of what a lifelong Yankee fan new Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is since being named to the high court by President Obama, you had to know her throwing out the first pitch for her hometown team was an inevitability. Yesterday that finally happened with Sotomayor getting spotted (at least) fifteen feet in her throw to backup catcher Jose Molina at home plate. Below is the video of Sotomayor, elated as she often seems to be, throwing out the pretty decent toss before yesterday's battle with the Red Sox.

Today, President Obama held a White House reception to celebrate new Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. However, Obama pointed out, "We're here not just to celebrate our extraordinary new Supreme Court justice and all those who've been a part of her journey to this day. We're here as well to celebrate an extraordinary moment for our nation." He noted, "While this is Justice Sotomayor's achievement, the result of her ability and determination, this moment is not just about her. It's about every child who will grow up thinking to him or herself, 'If Sonia Sotomayor can make it, then maybe I can, too.' This is a great day for America."

This morning, federal judge—and Bronx native with inspiring life story—Sonia Sotomayor was sworn in to the Supreme Court, making her the first Hispanic and third woman to serve on the nation's highest court. For the Judicial Oath, Sotomayor was sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts, while her mother Celina Sotomayor held a bible and her brother Dr. Juan Louis Sotomayor looked on. The Judicial oath has justices promise to "administer justice without respect to persons and do equal right to the poor and to the rich."

Bronx native and federal judge Sonia Sotomayor found out she was confirmed to serve on the Supreme Court by watching it in the 8th floor of a Manhattan federal courthouse conference room. The Daily News reports that the cheers started when it was official and she received a phone call, "'Mommy, I have people here,' Sotomayor told her - to laughs in the room. They spoke briefly in Spanish before hanging up, and the misty-eyed Suprema nueva told her friends, 'My mother is so happy she's crying.'" And while celebrating at a party with her close friends, she wanted to know the Yankees' score and said that when she gets a break, "I'm going to go to a Yankee game." And the NY Times examined the pride the Puerto Rican community has taken with Sotomayor's rise, "In New York, many have welcomed the judge’s visibility during a summer when the most celebrated — and reviled — local politicians were two Puerto Rican state senators who brought the state government to a standstill by mounting an abortive coup against their fellow Democrats."

After initially being given a pass from testifying in the federal case against the FDNY's alleged discriminatory practices with its entrance exams, Mayor Bloomberg has been ordered to give a deposition in the case due to his eagerness to expound upon it while giving testimony before Congress during Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings. The News says the deposition was ordered "as a result of Bloomberg's blabbing" and the Times suggests next time he testifies, the mayor "might want to stick to the subject." Bloomberg voluntarily spoke at length about the FDNY case while relating it to a similar one in New Haven that Sotomayor had decided on (a ruling he disagreed with). The federal judge in the FDNY discrimination suit said, "The mayor's sworn testimony before Congress indicates his personal involvement in the events at issue in this litigation." Last week a judge ruled the entrance exams "unfairly excluded hundreds of qualified people of color" and the case is now heading toward its penal phase. When asked about the judge's orders, the mayor said, "I have to talk to our lawyers, but normally I give depositions when asked."

The U.S. Senate voted to confirm Sonia Sotomayor as an associate Supreme Court justice today, in a 68-31 vote. The NY Times reports, "Judge Sotomayor’s confirmation was never in much doubt, given Democrats’ numerical advantage in the Senate. But the final vote — 68 to 31 — represented a partisan divide. No Democrat voted against her, while all but 9 of the chamber’s 40 Republicans did so. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, is ailing and did not vote." She will be the third female justice on the Supreme Court and (some say) the Court's first Hispanic justic.

With the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings over, a few Republican Senators have indicated their support for President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, federal judge Sonia Sotomayor. CBS News reports that Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Indiana) said she was "clearly qualified to serve on the Supreme Court," while Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Florida) said he takes "great pride in her historic achievement." And Sen. Arlen Specter, the former Republican turned Democrat, said Sotomayor had "displayed intellect, restraint and judicial demeanor." Last night, The Daily Show's Wyatt Cenac visited the South Bronx native's high school, Cardinal Spellman, to "expose [her] gang ties and racist affiliations by talking to her former classmates." See video after the jump:

Mayor Bloomberg was running a tad late today when he flew down to Washington on his private plane in order to testify on behalf of Sonia Sotomayor. The mayor quickly livened up what have been my most accounts slow-going confirmation hearings with the early line, "I strongly believe that she should be supported by Republicans, Democrats and independents. And I should know because I've been all three."

Today is expected to be the final day of confirmation hearings for federal judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama's first nominee to the Supreme Court. Yesterday, Sotomayor was questioned about her views on abortion and the Second Amendment, and the Washington Post notes, "Like nominees of both parties before her, she declined to be forthcoming about a host of legal issues. Her demeanor was more relaxed, yet she took no chances, joking openly with Judiciary Committee members while increasingly avoiding their questions. By midafternoon yesterday, even two Democrats on the panel sounded frustrated by her long, legally detailed and often evasive replies."

During day 2 of her Supreme Court confirmation hearings, federal judge Sonia Sotomayor discussed her much-talked about 2001 remarks where she said, “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.” Today, Politico reports that Sotomayor "publicly backed off the remarks... During the first day of direct exchanges between senators and the nominee at her confirmation hearings, Sotomayor said her statements were only intended to inspire women and Latinos pursuing careers in the law and were not meant to suggest they would make better judges than others." Sotomayor added that they were a "rhetorical flourish that fell flat... It left an impression that life experience commanded a result in a case but that’s clearly not what I do as a judge,” and said it was an unsuccessful play on former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's statement ("I can't see that on the issues that we address at the court that a wise old woman is going to decide a case differently than a wise old man").

At the start of Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings with the Senate Judiciary Committee, various senators had their say. While Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) said, "She is a judge in which all Americans can have confidence. She has been a judge for all Americans and will be a Justice for all Americans"±and told his fellow committee members, "Let no one demean this extraordinary woman, her success, or her understanding of the constitutional duties she has faithfully performed for the last 17 years"—Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) blasted President Obama's desire for "empathy" in a Supreme Court Justice. Graham added, "Unless you have a complete meltdown, you're going to get confirmed,"and he doubts she will have a meltdown. However, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama) continued to question her fairness, "I will not vote for—no senator should vote for—an individual nominated by any president who believes it is acceptable for a judge to allow their own personal background, gender, prejudices, or sympathies to sway their decision in favor of, or against, parties before the court." You can see the hearings live at MSNBC.com.

Federal judge Sonia Sotomayor will face grilling from the Senate Judiciary Committee today as she begins confirmation hearings for a seat on the Supreme Court. The Obama administration is confident that the Bronx native will become the third woman to sit on the nation's highest court: The Daily News reports, "The White House released a photo of a casually dressed Obama flashing a full-grill grin during a call to wish the Bronx-raised judge good luck" and notes that Senator Chuck Schumer said, "She has wowed people [on both sides of the political aisle]," even suggesting she may get more than 78 yea votes.

After her nomination to the Supreme Court in May, Sonia Sotomayor will begin her confirmation hearings on Monday. The Daily News reports that among the "A-list of cops, prosecutors and pols" to testify are Mayor Bloomberg, former Yankee pitcher David Cone, Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau (her first boss), and ex-FBI director Louis Freeh. Cone was the union rep during the 1994 baseball strike and Freeh was a fellow U.S. District Court judge; Freeh told NPR, "I haven't read anything in her opinions that would make me think, from a conservative point of view, that there is anything 'radical' or off the mainstream." As for coverage of the hearings, they will be broadcast live on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News and will be available on various online news sites.

Sonia Sotomayor has resigned from an all-women's club she belonged to in order to avoid one more issue that could come up during her confirmation hearings. Sotomayor was part of the 115 member of the Belizean Grove, which bills itself as women's answer to the 130-year-old all-male Bohemian Club, whose members once included Chief Justice Earl Warren. In a letter to Democratic Senators Patrick Leahy Jeff Sessions, Sotomayor said, "I believe the Belizean Grove does not practice invidious discrimination and my membership did not violate the Judicial Code of Ethics, but I do not want questions about this to distract anyone from my qualifications and record." Both Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sandra Day O'Connor belong to all-women's groups. Republicans say that they were not planning to object to Sotomayor's involvement, but merely highlight it the way Democrats have done previous nominee's inclusion in similar all-male organizations. Sotomayor may also have been giving Republicans less ammunition if they bring up her speech contrasting Latina women and white men.

       

Anywhere between hundreds of thousands to over a million revelers cheered on yesterday's Puerto Rican Day Parade along Fifth Avenue. Some told NY1, "Puerto Rican is one, we all are one, It's the pride of all Puerto Ricans in New York and in the island," and "Nobody understands how proud we are to be from Puerto Rico. Just to show that is an honor."

The Senate Judiciary Committee announced that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings would begin on July 13. However, Politico reports that Republicans are "infuriated." Apparently Committee chairman Pat Leahy set the date "without informing Republicans on the Judiciary Committee"; Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama), the senior Republican on the committee, said, "I don't think it’s a good way to begin the proceedings." Leahy pointed out that this schedule follows what was done for Justice John Roberts in 2005: "That agreement was reached before the Committee received the answers to the bipartisan questionnaire, and before the Committee had received any of the 75,000 pages of documents from his years working in Republican administrations. If 48 days were sufficient to prepare for that hearing, in accordance with our agreement and the initial schedule, it is certainly adequate time to prepare for the confirmation hearing for Judge Sotomayor." In the meantime, former First Lady Laura Bush, who hoped her husband would replace Sandra Day O'Connor with a female justice (instead, Samuel Alito was chosen) said of Sotomayor's nomination, "As a woman, I'm proud that there might be another woman on the court. I wish her well."

Newsday reports that a Manhattan man allegedly threatened to kill Supreme Court nominee federal judge Sonia Sotomayor. Prosecutors say that John Zaubler called 911 on May 30 from a West 72nd Street apartment and said, "I'm going to kill Judge Sotomayor by blowing her up. I'm going to blow her up. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it because my girlfriend is not going to federal prison." The 48-year-old pleaded not guilty to making terroristic threats; he's being held at Bellevue for psychiatric evaluation. Prosecutors also said he wanted to turn himself in. Newsday adds that Zaubler previously pleaded guilty to harassment in 2005 for making 25 calls to a person in one week, saying, "There is a New York City police unit called the intelligence department and I have used them before to break into people's apartments. I had Daniel Patrick Moynihan arrange that for me; a Syrian agent will kill you unless you have your friend Jasmine apologize for insulting my Muslim friend."

With federal judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court, much has been made of her rise from the Bronxdale Houses public housing project in the South Bronx. The NY Times has map showing the housing projects where some other successful New Yorkers grew up—and an article speaking to some of them. Basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar grew up in the Dyckman Houses (back then, he was Lew Alcindor). His family moved to an apartment in Building 3 there in 1950, from a shared apartment in Harlem, "[It] was really considered a step up. We had two bedrooms — for us. We didn’t have to share the kitchen or the bathroom." Writer Richard Price lived in the Parkside Houses in the Bronx and incoming Xerox CEO Ursula Burns lived at the Baruch Houses on the Lower East Side ("There were lots of Jewish immigrants, fewer Hispanics and African-Americans but the common denominator and great equalizer was poverty"). And Whoopi Goldberg described life at the Elliott-Chelsea Houses, "People were from Latvia, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Africa., From everywhere. So you had to be able to say things like, ‘Hello, I’m so and so,’ and ‘May I use the bathroom?’ in every language."

With federal judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court, everyone is predicting how things will turn out during the Senate confirmation hearings. Newsday looks at how Sotomayor actually has many similarities with Justice Samuel Alito, who was appointed by President Bush in 2005: "Both grew up Roman Catholic in modest homes wanting to be judges, attended the same Ivy League schools, became prosecutors in their first full-time jobs and served more than a decade on the circuit court. And both have remained closely tied to their ethnic roots and the communities where they grew up: Alito, 59, as an Italian American in New Jersey, and Sotomayor, 54, as a Puerto Rican in the Bronx." And, as Sotomayor's impartiality gets the once over, keep in mind that Alito said during his confirmation hearings, "When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account."

Watching her daughter be nominated to the Supreme Court by President Obama brought Celina Sotomayor Lopez to tears on Tuesday. Obama noted her commitment to her children during his introduction of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, "Her mother worked six days a week as a nurse to provide for Sonia and her brother -- who is also here today, is a doctor and a terrific success in his own right. But Sonia's mom bought the only set of encyclopedias in the neighborhood, sent her children to a Catholic school called Cardinal Spellman out of the belief that with a good education here in America all things are possible." Now the 82-year-old is all smiles, too, telling reporters, "Words cannot tell you how proud I am...I never told them [Sonia and her brother] to do anything for a living. I didn't tell them to be this or be that. I just said be the best you can always be. Be honest. If you have to clean toilets, that's fine." She added, "I am feeling great, but very tired...I guess the best word is overwhelmed."

Federal judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court is front page news around the country and especially in her hometown of New York. And as Republicans gear up to voice criticism of her, Democrats are ready—and excited. The former executive director of the Democratic National Committee Mark Siegel tells the Daily News, "I'm not only ecstatic, I pray that the Republicans do a frontal attack on her. Thirty-one percent [of the Hispanic vote] is too much for them. I want them to go down to three." And a Florida pollster who surveyed Hispanic voters for Obama's campaign told Politico, "The picture of an African-American president standing next to a Hispanic woman as his first choice for the Supreme Court — that picture is the worst nightmare for the Republican Party."

Radio host Rush Limbaugh had plenty to say about Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court: "Here you have a racist — you might want to soften that, and you might want to say a reverse racist... [Liberals] of course, say that minorities cannot be racists because they don't have the power to implement their racism. Well, those days are gone, because reverse racists certainly do have the power. ... Obama is the greatest living example of a reverse racist, and now he's appointed one.” Limbaugh was referring to to Sotomayor's past statement during a speech (read it here), "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life,"—and then noted how "wise men like Oliver Wendell Holmes and Justice Cardozo voted on cases which upheld both sex and race discrimination in our society." Politico reports that Limbaugh also complained about moderate Republicans (of course!), "I'm the one doing the heavy lifting. Colin Powell panders to moderate Republicans. If the moderates in the Republican Party offer no way to address this danger, then they are useless.”

Now that U.S. Court of Appeals judge—and Bronx native—Sonia Sotomayor has been nominated to the Supreme Court, her fellow New Yorkers are rejoicing. Mayor Bloomberg issued a statement noting that he had told President Obama that "Sonia Sotomayor would be an outstanding choice for the Supreme Court, and people whose legal opinions I greatly respect speak very highly of her," and also said, "She has been an incredibly good federal judge, and having risen from humble beginnings in the Bronx, she brings a perspective that will serve the Court - and our nation - very well. Her story is a perfect example of the kind of opportunity that is available in this City - and this country - to those who devote themselves to their dreams. Judge Sotomayor was first recommended to the federal bench by Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan - and of all his great legacies, she may prove to be one of the most important.”

Here's the video feed of President Obama's nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. If appointed, she will be the first Hispanic and third woman Justice. And she would join five fellow Catholics on the bench. And when Sotomayor's name was raised in nomination speculation earlier this month, the Daily News had an editorial noting, "Up from the Bronxdale Houses via Cardinal Spellman High School to serious consideration for the highest bench in the land. That's a hell of a journey, one that deserves note by the young in today's hard-scrabble city."

Officials say that President Obama will nominated U.S. Court of Appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor to fill David Souter's seat on the Supreme Court. Sotomayor, who grew up in a Bronx public housing project and was named to the federal bench by President George H.W. Bush, has been mentioned as a possible nominee since even before the election. The announcement will be made at 10:15 a.m.; the Caucus reports, "The president reached his decision over the long Memorial Day weekend...The president narrowed his list to four, according to people close to the selection process, including Federal Appeals Judge Diane P. Wood of Chicago, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Solicitor General Elena Kagan." Obama hopes to have his pick confirmed by the time Senate recesses in August. SCOTUS blog has an interesting post on a Sotomayor nomination: "For Republican Senators to come after Judge Sotomayor is not only hopeless when it comes to confirmation (something that did not deter Democrats in their attacks on Roberts and Alito) but a strategy that risks exacting a very significant political cost among Hispanics and independent voters generally."

U.S. Court of Appeals judge—and Bronx native— Sonia Sotomayor is in the headlines as a possible candidate to fill Supreme Court Justice David Souter's seat. President Obama said of his selection process, "I will seek somebody with a sharp and independent mind and a record of excellence and integrity."