National Public Radio : Sonia Sotomayor Liberal Symbol - Charms Children in elementary schools, visits Colleges of Nurses, Prestigious Law Schools of Best Universities - Defends " inmates sitting in their feces for days" in California - Defends mistreated children in Schools

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A Justice of the Supreme Court appointed by President Obama becomes a famous celebrity, much loved by the public and defender of the downtrodden.

"She has also regularly visited with various groups who have come to see the Supreme Court, from special needs children to senior citizens to veterans". "The Lady that saved baseball" is a favorite of Baseball Teams that want a prominent figure to throw the inaugural baseball in games.

National Public Radio
Sotomayor The Symbol Of Liberal Wing
By David Fontana
David Fontana is associate professor at George Washington University School of Law.
June 29, 2011


Sotomayor The Symbol Of Liberal Wing


Some excerpts :

Justice Sonia Sotomayor told a group of children with type-1 diabetes about her struggles with her disease. She spoke Tuesday to the Children's Congress of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

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Years from now, however, we might be talking about this term as significant for another reason: It was when Sonia Sotomayor became the most well-known and effective member of the Court's liberal wing.

When Sotomayor was nominated to the Supreme Court in 2009, many liberals were unhappy. This unease was only magnified by her confirmation hearings. The Washington Post said that there was "little for liberals" in the hearings, and former University of Chicago Law School Dean Geoffrey Stone argued that they "did serious damage to the cause of progressive thought in constitutional law."

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In her first 18 months on the Court, Sotomayor has proven to be what the Los Angeles Times has called a "reliable liberal vote." Meanwhile, The New York Times has noted that Sotomayor has been "alert to the humanity of the people whose cases make their way to the Supreme Court. Slate said her opinions about Miranda warnings reflected that "empathy for the vulnerable isn't merely a choice but a necessity."

But what is most consequential about Sotomayor's time on the Court is how what she has done on the bench combines with what she has done away from it. Sotomayor has become the public face of the Court's liberal wing because she seems to be what so few justices are: a real person, with the jurisprudence to match.

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It is into this void that Sotomayor has stepped. (It's too soon to know if Justice Elena Kagan might play a similar role). A recent poll indicated that Sotomayor has already become the most well-known member of the Court's liberal wing. But it is what she is doing with this public awareness of her life and her role on the Court that matters most.

Sotomayor's public appeal might be substantial, like that of Scalia, but for different reasons. We know from much academic research in areas like social psychology that the messages — in this case, legal ones — that people hear are evaluated based in part on the messengers delivering them. To a certain extent, we are more likely to agree with those messengers we like — and this seems to be helping Sotomayor.

She is likable in part because of her personality; journalists have noted that she "charms" audience members. But she also seems like a person everyone might know: a regular person with regular interests and regular problems — or perhaps even an extraordinary person who has overcome extraordinary problems. During the last few weeks of the Supreme Court's term, newspapers reported about Sotomayor in the context of her opinions, but they gave just as much coverage to several stories reflecting on her as a person. Many newspapers reported about her June appearance sponsored by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation where Sotomayor "open[ed] up about her diabetes" with "heartfelt remarks." Two days before that, they covered Sotomayor throwing out the first pitch at Wrigley Field (appropriately wearing a Cubs jersey rather than a jersey of her beloved Yankees). Sotomayor is also at work on a book — but not one on legal theory. Instead, her publisher has revealed that it is a "coming-of-age memoir by an American daughter of Puerto Rican immigrants."

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She shared her perspective about persistent barriers to equality with audiences at several elite law schools and with a community college in the Bronx that helped her mother become a nurse several decades ago. During a visit in which she judged a moot court proceeding involving law students at Berkeley, Sotomayor also made a visit to a local elementary school with a commitment to diversity and a prominent foreign language program. She has also regularly visited with various groups who have come to see the Supreme Court, from special needs children to senior citizens to veterans.

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Meanwhile, in her work on the bench, Sotomayor has interjected a human element into otherwise technical discussions. For instance, she analyzed the constitutional problems with an overcrowded California prison in part by asking, "When are you going to avoid or get around people sitting in their feces for days in a dazed state?" Sotomayor implored the lawyer representing the prison to "slow down from the rhetoric" and discuss more thoroughly "the needless deaths" the prison caused.

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The substance of what she says and stands for might be familiar, but her style in communicating that substance seem to be making it newly appealing. This bodes well for the liberal wing of the Court, which has been waiting years for an effective voice to promote its views to the general public. Here's hoping it has finally found a voice with staying power.

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