Even though Article IV of the Constitution says that treaties are the ‘supreme law of the land’, in most instances they’re not even law. – Sonia Sotomayor
There are cultural biases built into testing, and that was one of the motivations for the concept of affirmative action – to try to balance out those effects. – Sonia Sotomayor
I am a product of affirmative action. I am the perfect affirmative action baby. I am Puerto Rican, born and raised in the south Bronx. My test scores were not comparable to my colleagues at Princeton and Yale. Not so far off so that I wasn’t able to succeed at those institutions. – Sonia Sotomayor
All judges have cases that touch our passions deeply, but we all struggle constantly with remaining impartial. – Sonia Sotomayor
I have had positive experiences with cameras. When I have been asked to join experiments using cameras in the courtroom, I have participated; I have volunteered. – Sonia Sotomayor
It is our responsibility to explain to the public how an often unpredictable system of justice is one that serves a productive, civilized, but always evolving, society. – Sonia Sotomayor
I have spent my years since Princeton, while at law school and in my various professional jobs, not feeling completely a part of the worlds I inhabit. I am always looking over my shoulder wondering if I measure up. – Sonia Sotomayor
I had no need to apologize that the look-wider, search-more affirmative action that Princeton and Yale practiced had opened doors for me. That was its purpose: to create the conditions whereby students from disadvantaged backgrounds could be brought to the starting line of a race many were unaware was even being run. – Sonia Sotomayor
I found in my experiences that it’s not that men are consciously discriminating against promoting women, but I do believe as people we have self-images about what’s good. – Sonia Sotomayor
I’ve never wanted to get adjusted to my income, because I knew I wanted to go back to public service. And in comparison to what my mother earns and how I was raised, it’s not modest at all. I have no right to complain. – Sonia Sotomayor
This wealth of experiences, personal and professional, have helped me appreciate the variety of perspectives that present themselves in every case that I hear. – Sonia Sotomayor
I wouldn’t approach the issue of judging in the way the president does. Judges can’t rely on what’s in their heart. They don’t determine the law. Congress makes the law. The job of a judge is to apply the law. – Sonia Sotomayor
It is very important when you judge to recognize that you have to stay impartial. That’s what the nature of my job is. I have to unhook myself from my emotional responses and try to stay within my unemotional, objective persona. – Sonia Sotomayor
The truth is that since childhood I had cultivated an existential independence. It came from perceiving the adults around me as unreliable, and without it I felt I wouldn’t have survived. I cared deeply for everyone in my family, but in the end I depended on myself. – Sonia Sotomayor
I came to accept during my freshman year that many of the gaps in my knowledge and understanding were simply limits of class and cultural background, not lack of aptitude or application as I’d feared. – Sonia Sotomayor
Sometimes it gets boring. No justice is supposed to say that. But, you know, there’s drudgery in every job you’re going to do. – Sonia Sotomayor
I don’t prejudge issues. I come to every case with an open mind. Every case is new to me. – Sonia Sotomayor
No matter how liberal I am, I’m still outraged by crimes of violence. Regardless of whether I can sympathize with the causes that lead these individuals to do these crimes, the effects are outrageous. – Sonia Sotomayor
An alcoholic father, poverty, my own juvenile diabetes, the limited English my parents spoke – although my mother has become completely bilingual since. All these things intrude on what most people think of as happiness. – Sonia Sotomayor
If the system is broken, my inclination is to fix it rather than to fight it. I have faith in the process of the law, and if it is carried out fairly, I can live with the results, whatever they may be. – Sonia Sotomayor
I am a New Yorker, and 7:00 A.M. is a civilized hour to finish the day, not to start it. – Sonia Sotomayor
I was raised in a Bronx public housing project, but studied at two of the nation’s finest universities. I did work as an assistant district attorney, prosecuting violent crimes that devastate our communities. – Sonia Sotomayor
The first case I sat on… was Citizens United. Talk about being thrown in. Needless to say, if I was scared before, I was terrified. – Sonia Sotomayor
Although I grew up in very modest and challenging circumstances, I consider my life to be immeasurably rich. – Sonia Sotomayor
I do believe that every person has an equal opportunity to be a good and wise judge regardless of their background or life experiences. – Sonia Sotomayor
Since I have difficulty defining merit and what merit alone means – and in any context, whether it’s judicial or otherwise – I accept that different experiences in and of itself, bring merit to the system. – Sonia Sotomayor
To have a romance, you have to have time. I’m a justice. I’ve written a book. The guy’s gonna have to wait until I’m a little bit freer. – Sonia Sotomayor
My hope is that I will take the good from my experiences and extrapolate them further into areas with which I am unfamiliar. I simply do not know exactly what that difference will be in my judging. But I accept there will be some based on my gender and my Latina heritage. – Sonia Sotomayor