Sonia Sotomayor

Sonia Maria Sotomayor was born on June 25, 1954, in the Bronx, New York City, to Puerto Rican born parents, and has served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States since 2009, nominated by President Barack Obama to succeed Justice David Souter. She is the third woman and the first Hispanic justice to serve on the Court. Before her appointment she worked as an assistant district attorney in New York, served as a federal district judge for the Southern District of New York, and sat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where she heard appeals in more than three thousand cases. A member of the Courts liberal bloc, she is known for concern for the rights of criminal defendants, as shown in majority opinions such as J.D.B. v. North Carolina, and for outspoken dissents on issues of race and ethnic identity.