From the New York Times:
Born in the Bronx on June 23, 1954, she was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 8. Her father, a factory worker, died a year later. Her mother, a nurse at a methadone clinic, raised her daughter and a younger son on a modest salary.
Judge Sotomayor graduated from Princeton University summa cum laude in 1976 and became an editor of the Yale Law Journal. She spent five years as a prosecutor with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office before entering private practice.
But she longed to return to public service, she said, inspired by the “Perry Mason” series she watched as a child. In 1992, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan recommended the politically centrist lawyer to President George H. W. Bush, making good on a longstanding promise to appoint a Hispanic judge in New York.
May 26th, 2009 at 1:49PM
What, she wanted to grow up to be District Attorney Hamilton Burger? PERRY was a defense attorney who charged!
May 26th, 2009 at 4:33PM
A prosecutor who understands the reasons for the constitutional limitations on the police power of the government is in a position to prevent the abuse of power by police. (Think, perhaps, of Sam Waterston on Law & Order.) The defense attorney (whether a public defender or a private attorney (a real Perry Mason who charges for his or her legal services) becomes involved after the fact and is limited to finding a remedy for any abuse of power that has occurred.
Michael McNabb (former state prosecutor and former member of panel of private attorneys accepting appointment as public defenders in federal court)
May 26th, 2009 at 4:41PM
Sorry, but Benjamin Cardozo was the first Hispanic to serve on the Supreme Court, 1932-1938.
May 27th, 2009 at 7:37AM
Michael W.:
Michael Nifong?
May 27th, 2009 at 2:01PM
theprofessor:
If a prosecutor makes decisions for political reasons, as it appears Nifong did, then he will create a dysfunctional criminal justice system. If he uses his powers within constitutional limitations, then he can create a better society in which justice is provided to all interested parties and punishment is commensurate with culpability.