A Supreme Sotomayor: How My Country Has Caught Up To Me
A senior correspondent and host of the newsmagazine program “Maria
Hinojosa: One-on-One" both on PBS, she is a broadcast journalist. She was
born in Mexico City in 1961 and graduated from Barnard College in New York City
with a bachelor's degree. Hinojosa, a recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy
Journalism Award, has additionally worked for CBS, CNN, and other media
organizations. She is the author of Raising Paul: Adventures Raising Myself and
so on.
Background on Female Supreme Court Justices: Although Justice
Sonia Sotomayor is the first Latin American to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court,
she is not the first woman on the Court.
In 1981, President Ronald Reagan nominated Sandra Day O’Connor as the first
female associate justice; generally viewed as a moderate “swing vote” on many
controversial issues, including abortion, she served until her retirement in
2006. Sotomayor is also not the only female justice on the Supreme Court.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, nominated in 1993 by President Bill Clinton, and Elena
Kagan, nominated in 2010 by Barack Obama, both now serve on the Court. As these
appointments have broken the long tradition of males on the Supreme Court, many
observers have begun to discuss the role that race, gender, religion, class,
and ethnicity may play in future Supreme Court decisions.
Summary: The essay by Maria Hinojosa is a real reaction to the recent appointment
of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court. She emphasizes the contrast
between the developed American society of today and the impoverished
environment she grew up in by drawing on Sotomayor's accomplishments. It is
relevant to Hinojosa's accounts of prejudice and discrimination. Hinojosa made
a statement near the end of her piece that has stuck with me: "Sotomayor
will also hopefully dispel misconceptions that Mexicans and other Latinos have
about Puerto Ricans. Family members frequently remark that Puerto Ricans are
crooks. A white American has no idea that there is a prejudiced subculture here
as well. "What Barack Obama has done for men of color, Sonia Sotomayor has
done for Puerto Rican males," adds Hinojosa.