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SONIA SOTOMAYOR FIRST LATINA ON U.S. SUPREME COURT

What We Think...

"To those who stand before the courts, the perception of fairness is as important as the actual reality of fairness. It is therefore critical that the United States Supreme Court properly represents the demographics in our country in order to maintain the respect, integrity and credibility of the judicial system. In 2003, the 39 million Hispanics living in the United States became the largest minority group per the Census Bureau. By 2009, that number grew to 47 million. The appointment of Justice Sonia Sotomayor, as the first Hispanic and third woman to serve on the Supreme Court, promotes the perception of fairness in our system of justice and helps to ensure that the decisions of the Supreme Court will be accepted by the public. Thus, all citizens are better served by her appointment. Justice Sotomayor is a brilliant, thoughtful and highly respected jurist who is not afraid to speak her mind. She will surely serve the public well when promoting public discourse on legal issues viewed through her unique life perspective. As a Latina attorney, I am particularly proud of her appointment for I well understand the long road she traveled to become our first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice."

Roberta Sistos
CLCI Board Member
Former Chair, Hispanic National Bar Association Supreme Court Committee

"Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor will bring new points of view to the Supreme Court at a time our country is in great peril from within. As a member of the Supreme Court, she will be viewed as a role model for Latinos in this country and everywhere.. May God guide her thoughts as she considers the fairness and justice of her decisions. "

Robert Pacheco, Esq.
Former Chairman Latino Republican Caucus
California State Assembly, 60th District (retired).

"Witnessing Justice Sotomayor receive confirmation from the Senate made me feel as if my own parents now have an appropriate seat at the table of national discourse, and as a latino attorney, her confirmation was like watching one of the legal communities most trusted advisors solidify her role in providing sound guidance to a nation."

Javier F. Gutierrez, Esq.
Associate, Gresham Savage
2003-2004 CLCI Polanco Fellow

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor gets feisty on big bench debut


	Steve Petteway

BY James Gordon Meek
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

Thursday, September 10th 2009, 4:00 AM

WASHINGTON - Sonia Sotomayor dispensed some Bronx bluntness on Wednesday in her debut day on the bench as a Supreme Court justice.

The nation's first Latina high court justice jumped into arguments stemming from a Hillary Clinton-bashing film within a half hour of taking a seat in her first case.

An appeals court had ruled it was a campaign ad subject to restrictions that stop corporations from running ads for or against candidates

Sotomayor, 55, grilled two titans of the law, who asked the justices to overturn the court's own precedents and loosen the restrictions.

The rules have been in place for decades and were further tightened under the 2002 campaign-finance law sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), who watched the arguments.

The newest justice - taking the traditional seat for newbies to the far left of Chief Justice John Roberts - spent a few minutes trying to scoot her high-backed leather chair closer to the bench.

She listened intently and deferentially to her colleagues' questions and the answers by the Bush administration's former top lawyer, Theodore Olson, darting her eyes between each speaker.

"Mr. Olson, are you giving up on your earlier arguments that there are ways to avoid the constitutional question to resolve this case?" she suddenly interjected.

Olson replied that he was not reinventing his legal position on behalf of Citizens United, a conservative group that produced the anti-Hillary movie offered on pay-per-view TV during the 2008 presidential primaries.

She jumped in again to quiz New York constitutional law legend Floyd Abrams, expressing deep skepticism that lifting long-tested campaign restrictions was the way to go.

Sotomayor wondered aloud if the Supreme Court would do "some more harm than good" by issuing a blockbuster reversal.

jmeek@nydailynews.com

About the California Latino Legislative Caucus Institute for Public Policy:
The California Latino Legislative Caucus Institute for Public Policy which was founded in 2002 is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization created as a non-partisan effort by the California Latino Legislative Caucus to serve as a broad based public policy, educational and leadership development organization. The Institute will serve as an agent of change to ensure that California’s Latino community has an increasingly positive and dynamic influence on the state’s diverse economic, social and political resources. The Institute Board of Directors includes: Sen. Richard Polanco (Ret.), Chairman, David Lizarraga, President, Carmen O. Perez, Secretary as well as Angie Medina, former Assembly Member Bob Pacheco and Roberta Sistos. The Institute has also established a corporate advisory council whose members include: Bank of America, Kaiser Permanente, Southwest Airlines, Heineken USA, TELACU, PepsiCo, Chevron, Nielson, Amgen, Southern California Edison, Chrysler, Sempra Energy, Pfizer and AT&T.

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