About this item
To become the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice, Sonia Sotomayor went against the odds. Her historic appointment in 2009-made by President Obama, whose own 2008 victory appeared improbable-flowed from cultural and political changes in America that helped lift up this daughter of a Puerto Rican nurse and a factory worker. Sotomayor saw opportunities and, with street smarts and savvy, she seized them. Journalist Joan Biskupic weaves a political narrative centered on Sotomayor's fortuitous timing and personal striving. From housing projects in the Bronx to Princeton University and Yale Law School, Sotomayor's life tracked the ascent of Latinos in America.      Along the way, she elicited admiration and, as a self-described "affirmative action baby," resentment.
About the Author
JOAN BISKUPIC has covered the Supreme Court since 1989. Previously the Supreme Court reporter for The Washington Post, she is the legal affairs correspondent for USA Today, a frequent panelist on PBS's Washington Week, and the author of Sandra Day O'Connor: How the First Woman on the Supreme Court Became Its Most Influential Justice. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and daughter.
