History

School History

Sonia Sotomayor Middle School at Adelphi will open for school year 2023-24. The school serves the Adelphi community for grades 6 through 8. Dr. Leroy Alicea-Cabassa will serve as the school's first principal.

Who is Sonia Sotomayor?

Sonia Sotomayor was born in Bronx, New York to parents who immigrated to the United States from Puerto Rico. She graduated from Cardinal Spellman High School in 1972 as the class valedictorian.

Education

Her academic success in high school allowed her to attend Princeton University on a scholarship. While at Princeton, she joined activist groups that worked to improve the rights of Puerto Ricans in America. “She earned a B.A. in 1976 from Princeton University, graduating summa cum laude and a member of Phi Beta Kappa and receiving the Pyne Prize, the highest academic honor Princeton awards to an undergraduate. In 1979, she earned a J.D. from Yale Law School where she served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal.” (supremecourt.gov)

Career

After graduating with her Juris Doctor in 1979, she was hired as an assistant district attorney for Manhattan and was quite successful as a prosecutor. After five years, Sotomayor was hired by the private law firm Pavia & Harcourt, where she worked on cases involving intellectual property rights and copyright litigation. She made partner at the firm in 1988.

President George H.W. Bush appointed Sotomayor to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1991. In 1997, President Bill Clinton appointed her to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Upon the retirement of Justice David Souter, Sonia Sotomayor was appointed to the United States Supreme Court by President Barack Obama. She was confirmed on August 6, 2009, making history as the third woman and first Hispanic to serve on the High Court.

During her service on the Supreme Court, Associate Justice Sotomayor has worked to protect affirmative action programs, the Affordable Care Act and the legalization of same-sex marriage.

Sources

"Sonia Sotomayor." Oyez, www.oyez.org/justices/sonia_sotomayor. Accessed 6 Jun. 2023.

“Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.” Smithsonian: National Museum of the American Latino, https://latino.si.edu/exhibitions/presente/shaping-nation/supreme-court-justice-sonia-sotomayor. Accessed 6 Jun. 2023.

“Current Members: Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice.” Supreme Court of the United States, https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/biographies.aspx. Accessed 6 Jun. 2023.