Here’s a leading candidate to replace Souter. Obama shoring up his Latino base which gave him 67% of their votes:
Outstanding Latino Professional Award Recipient, 2006
Judge Sonia Sotomayor
Second Circuit Court of Appeals
Judge Sotomayor received her J.D. from Yale University in 1979 and graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University in 1976. At Yale, Judge Sotomayor served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal and managing editor of the Yale Studies in World Public Order. She has been a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit since October 7, 1998. From October 2, 1992 until her recent appointment, she served as a United States District Court Judge for the Southern District of New York.
Judge Sotomayor began her career as an Assistant District Attorney in New York County. In 1984 she joined the law firm of Pavia & Harcourt, where she later became partner. Her focus at the firm was on intellectual property issues and international litigation and arbitration of commercial and commodity export trading cases. She also served as a member of the Second Circuit Task Force on Gender, Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts and was formerly on the Board of Directors of the State of New York Mortgage Agency, the New York City Campaign Finance Board, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Maternity Center Association.
Judge Sotomayor has received honorary degrees from Herbert H. Lehman College, Princeton University, Brooklyn Law School, Pace University School of Law, and Hofstra University. She is also an Adjunct Professor at New York University School of Law and a Lecturer-in-Law at Columbia University School of Law.
Judge Sotomayor is actively involved in the local and national legal community. She is a member of the American Bar Association, the New York City Chapter of the Women’s Bar Association, the National Hispanic Bar Association, the Puerto Rican Bar Association and the Association of Hispanic Judges and the American Philosophical Society. Judge Sotomayor is also a frequent speaker and panelist at bar conferences and law schools.
not easy finding a minority woman non-christian with a disability for SCOTUS
What’s interesting is that the entire short list I’ve seen is composed of women, because they expected Ginsberg’s seat, not Souter’s, to be the first to open up.
I’ve noticed that identity politics is never more overt than when it comes time to fill a Supreme Court seat. Remember the gnashing of teeth when a man was appointed to replace O’Connor?