Justice Sotomayor discusses her new book in Philadelphia, how her mother impacted her work on the Supreme Court

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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor was in Philadelphia on Tuesday at the Parkway Central Library to discuss her new children’s book.

The book, titled “Just Shine! How to Be a Better You,” focuses on helping others “discover their inner brilliance.” Sotomayor’s mother served as the inspiration for the recently released work, with the justice citing her mother’s upbringing in Puerto Rico and her “ability to help people see their own brilliance.”

Sotomayor, the first Latina Supreme Court justice, spoke with WHYY’s Cherri Gregg and answered fan-submitted questions throughout the event. She discussed how the book saw her “using the writing as my therapy” to address the pain of her mother’s death in 2021.

“But at a certain point you wake up and you realize, ‘Wait a minute, writing a book for other people is not about your therapy,’” Sotomayor said. “It’s about what are you sharing with them that will help them, and that’s when this really started to come together. It took a lot of drafts and a lot of years.”

Sotomayor said that when reflecting on her mother’s passing, she had an epiphany that inspired her to begin crafting a children’s novel.

“Our first teachers are our parents,” Sotomayor said. “When I had that realization, I thought about it and said, ‘What do I need to impart to kids that could be examples of things that are important about human relations?’ Because that’s what my mother was great at, really making other people feel special. And so that’s what the book is about.”

Sotomayor’s mother’s teachings also have had an impact on her relationships with the other justices.

“We are a family,” she said, adding she looks “first at the good in people,” referencing her relationship with some she often disagrees with on the bench, including Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

“Thomas knows the name of practically every employee in the building,” Sotomayor said. “And not infrequently, we’re walking out of a conference or the dining room and he’ll say, ‘Did you know somebody in the building has lost a parent, a sick son?’ Something about them personally. He cares deeply about people.”

“I know that he is voting in good faith for what he believes. I know his beliefs are wrong because I write about them,” Sotomayor joked. “I get a chance to say it, but once I say it, I can walk away. I let it go, and that’s the forgiveness my mother taught me.”

This year, Sotomayor has offered dissenting opinions on multiple Supreme Court cases, including a decision to resume sweeping immigration operations in Los Angeles and plans for the Trump administration to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. Sotomayor did concur with a decision earlier this year to allow mass federal layoffs.

President Barack Obama nominated Sotomayor as an associate justice of the Supreme Court on May 26, 2009, and she assumed this role on Aug. 8, 2009. Prior to that, President George H.W. Bush nominated her to the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, where she served in that role from 1992 to 1998. She then served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1998 to 2009.