Obama Chooses First Hispanic to Supreme Court

But she sided with a federal inmate in his late 50s who suffered a heart attack after being ordered to quickly climb five flights of stairs back to his cell. Sotomayor agreed the inmate should be permitted to sue the private facility that ran the prison.

Common Touch
      
Not only her qualifications and record led Obama to nominate Sotomayor—it was her life experience. Her parents were born in Puerto Rico and moved to the Bronx, where the family lived in a housing project.
      
"I am an ordinary person who has been blessed with extraordinary opportunities and experiences," Sotomayor said at the news conference announcing her nomination.
      
Sotomayor’s life story mirror’s Obama’s. Like the president, Sotomayor was raised by a single mother—her father died when she was nine years old.
      
And like Obama, Sotomayor overcame any obstacle to success that may have been posed by her modest beginnings.
      
Obama says her background strengthened her candidacy. "It is experience that can give a person a common touch," he said. "She’s faced down barriers… and lived out the American Dream that brought her parents here so long ago."
      
After the president announced her nomination, Sotomayor thanked her family members, especially her mother, Celina, for their support.
      
"She worked often two jobs to help support us after dad died," Sotomayor said of her mother, who was a nurse. "I have often said I that I am all I am because of her, and I am only half the woman she is."
      
Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, says he was moved when Sotomayor spoke of her mother. "I thought, 'Wow, this really is a Latina!'" Vargas says.
      
Vargas says Sotomayor’s road to confirmation may be a little rocky, buy he’s confident she’ll win Senate approval since she’s already been through the process. "I would expect any nomination from the President to come under fire. But she’s made it through [the Senate] twice already."
      
He also wants Obama Sotomayor's nomination to be more than political payback to Latinos. "I hope it is an indication that if you want an effective judiciary and an effective Supreme Court, you need the perspective of the nation’s second-largest community," Vargas said.
      
The President settled on Sotomayor during the Memorial Day weekend, passing over others on his short list—Diane Wood, a U.S. Court of Appeals judge in Chicago; Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano; and U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan.
      
Obama hopes the Senate will confirm Sotomayor in time for her to join the Supreme Court for its next session in October. But Republicans say they want plenty of time to review her record.