Associate Justice speaks about her life, ethnicity, and time on the Supreme Court

Amidst widespread interest in the Supreme Court’s summer session, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s visit to Notre Dame last week drew hundreds of members of the Notre Dame and South Bend communities.

Sotomayor spent two days on campus, visiting with students of the Notre Dame Law School, enjoying breakfast with students in the Institute for Latino Studies, and engaging in a lively conversation with the Notre Dame student body on September 2.  NBC News correspondent Anne Thompson moderated the event.

This conversation served as the central event of Sotomayor’s visit, attracting hundreds to the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center to hear her speak about her life and her career.  The discussion remained apolitical, focusing mostly on the barriers and obstacles a Latina must overcome to pursue goals in education and in the legal world.

Sotomayor said she believes there are prejudices in the hearts of all people.  “We all have biases.  We must try to see through them,” she said.

Elaborating on her life, Sotomayor explained her journey from high school in the Bronx to her days as an undergraduate at Princeton and law student at Yale, through her path on the federal and appellate courts, and finally to her swearing-in as a Supreme Court Justice in August 2008 as the first Latina justice on the Supreme Court.

Commenting on the nomination and confirmation process, she explained, “It felt like I was not in my body, that I was watching it from above.”

Sotomayor also discussed her relationship with the eight other members of the Supreme Court.  She noted that although they exhibit many different approaches to interpreting law and the Constitution, all the justices maintain the same goal.

“Antonin [Scalia] might have one way to look at a case, and I have my own way, [but] we are trying to accomplish the same thing,” she said.  Sotomayor described the relationships of the nine justices, in general, as congenial and friendly while also professional.

As part of the event, 10 pre-selected students were given the opportunity to ask Sotomayor questions dealing with her life, ethnicity, and work.  Among these inquiries was a question related to the composition of the Supreme Court.  When asked whether she believes the Court would benefit from a wider range of diversity in its members, Sotomayor answered in the affirmative.

Sotomayor touched upon the possibility of having more women or members of differing ethnicities and religions on the bench.  However, she went on to explain that the court suffers most from a lack of diversity in the legal field.  Sotomayor elaborated, illustrating that the members of the Supreme Court are all prosecutors, with no criminal defense work, and that the bench lacks experience in specific fields of law, including civil rights and immigration, areas in which the court is continuously hearing cases.

One student asked Justice Sotomayor about the defining moment of her legal career.  Though her nomination to the Supreme Court sticks out as one of her greatest achievements, she remarked that past choices led ultimately to her nomination.

“I have to think about some of the decisions I made and accepting my nomination to the appellate stands out among those,” Sotomayor said.

On Justice Sotomayor and her visit, John Haley, a Notre Dame student who attended the conversation with the Hesburgh-Yusko scholars, said, “Justice Sotomayor was very well spoken and personal, and you could tell that she had a genuine interest in being here, not only to tell her own story, but also to listen to the stories of Notre Dame students.”

Jack Kill is a sophomore studying political science and an active member of the Men’s Club Soccer team and Student Government.  He serves as St. Edward’s Hall Senator and Director of Constituent Services in Student Government.  Contact Jack at jkill@nd.edu.