Barack Obama announced his Supreme Court pick this morning, May 26, 2009 at 10:15 a.m. – see video below. The president has chosen federal appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor of New York as his pick to replace Justice David Souter, who has opted to retire. Sotomayor will be the third woman and the first Hispanic to serve on the Supreme Court.
The nomination will have to be confirmed by the Senate Judiciary and the full Senate. The president said he hopes to have hearings in July, with the confirmation completed before congress leaves for their summer break.
The president had a list of four: two federal appeals judges, Sotomayor and Diane P. Wood of Chicago. The other two front-runners were members of his administration, Solicitor General Elena Kagan and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
Sotomayor, 54, is a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second circuit. She was born in New York, the child of Puerto Rican parents. She grew up in a housing project in the South Bronx. She was diagnosed with diabetes at age 8. Her father died when she was 9. Her mother, a nurse, raised Sotomayor and her younger brother, who is now a doctor.
The Supreme Court nominee earned her A.B. in 1979 from Princeton University, summa cum laude, and was the editor of the Yale Law Journal. She served as an Assistant District Attorney before entering private practice in 1984.
Considered a political centrist, President George W. Bush nominated her to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1991. In 1997 she was nominated by President Bill Clinton to the seat she now holds.
Since Barack Obama’s election, there had been speculation that Sotomayor could be a leading candidate for a Supreme Court seat. In April 2009, New York Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand wrote a joint letter to President Obama, urging him to appoint Sotomayor.
Obama spent the weekend at Camp David, returning Sunday night. He hosted Gold Star Families at a White House breakfast yesterday and then attended a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery – photos, video here.
See video below.