Who Is Sonia Sotomayor?

By Megan Stine, Who HQ and Dede Putra

The truly inspiring story of the first Latina Supreme Court Justice.

Outspoken, energetic, and fun, Sonia Sotomayor has managed to turn every struggle in life into a triumph. Born in the Bronx to immigrant parents from Puerto Rico, Sonia found out at age nine that she had diabetes, a serious illness now but an even more dangerous one fifty years ago. How did young Sonia handle the devastating news? She learned to give herself her daily insulin shots and became determined to make the most out of her life. It was the popular sixties TV show Perry Mason that made Sonia want to become a lawyer. Not only a lawyer, but a judge! Her remarkable career was capped in 2009 when President Barack Obama nominated her to the Supreme Court, only the third woman and first Hispanic justice in the court's history. Stories of Sotomayor's career are hardly dry legal stuff—she once hopped on a motorcycle to chase down counterfeiters and was the judge whose ruling ended the Major League baseball strike in 1995.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
• Release date: Feb 7, 2017
• ISBN: 9780399541933

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Cover for Who Is Sonia Sotomayor?

For Maddy—MS

Dedicated to my parents—DP

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Text copyright © 2017 by Megan Stine.

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2016478647

ISBN 9780399541926 (paperback)

ISBN 9780399541933 (ebook)

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Contents

Title Page

Dedication

Copyright

Who Is Sonia Sotomayor?

Born in the Bronx

High-School Hopes and Dreams

Princeton

Law and Marriage

Catching the Bad Guys

Moving Up and Moving On

Your Honor

Higher and Higher

One of Nine

Timelines

Bibliography

Who Is Sonia Sotomayor?

New York City: May 25, 2009

It was a warm spring day—the kind of day to be outside. But Sonia Sotomayor was in her office, sitting beside her phone. She was waiting for the most important call of her life. A call from the White House! She would learn whether President Barack Obama wanted her to be a judge on the Supreme Court.

Sonia was already a judge. Her courtroom was in downtown New York City. But being one of the nine judges on the Supreme Court would be very different.

The Supreme Court is the most important court in the country—it decides whether laws in the United States are fair or not. Its decisions are final.

All day the phone in her office rang again and again. Each time Sonia picked it up, it was her family calling. They wanted to know what was happening. If she got the job, she would be only the third woman to sit on the Supreme Court—and the very first Hispanic person. Her family would be invited to go to the White House with her the next day. Some family members were coming from Puerto Rico!

Finally, at seven o’clock that evening, Sonia couldn’t stand waiting any longer. She picked up the phone and called the White House herself. She spoke to an aide to the