Sotomayor has ties to the region

By: Phil Gregory

President Obama’s choice for a seat on the United States Supreme Court has some ties to New Jersey.

By: Phil Gregory

President Obama’s choice for a seat on the United States Supreme Court has some ties to New Jersey.
Photo Credit: Courtesy: The White House

Sonia Sotomayor majored in history at Princeton University. She graduated in 1976 and was awarded the Pyne Prize, the top award given to Princeton’s undergraduates which recognizes scholarship, strength of character and effective leadership. Sotomayor received an honorary doctorate from Princeton in 2001 and was named to the University’s Board of Trustees in 2006.

If confirmed she will be the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court and groups representing Latinos are praising her selection. Martin Perez is President of the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey.

Perez:  The nomination of her is not because she’s a Latino. The nomination is because she’s highly qualified. The fact that she is a Latino is what makes us proud.

Perez says Sotomayor will serve as a role model for Latino law students.

Sotomayor’s nomination also won praise in Pennsylvania, where some liberal groups have already started lobbying Senators Casey and Specter to support her.

But conservatives weren’t as happy.

Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation president Michael Ciccocioppo says he’s concerned Sotomayor will be a judicial activist, the kind he blames for the Supreme Court decision that granted the right to abortion.

Ciccocioppo: Their role is to be strictly looking at the Constitution. And anybody that looks at the Constitution will not find a right to privacy, which, supposedly, Roe vs. Wade is based on. And therefore any court that would be looking strictly at the Constitution who would be looking at Roe vs. Wade would overturn it.

Both liberal and conservative groups have already started heavy campaigning – and fundraising – around Sotomayor’s nomination. She is expected to testify before a Senate panel in July.