Off the Bench, Sotomayor Signs Autographs, Cautiously Answers Nosy Reporters
Justice Sonia Sotomayor displayed the usual penchant for work as other new U.S. Supreme Court justices, but in many ways her first term was atypical.
Off the bench, the first Hispanic justice is widely recognized, the Washington Post reports. “She has a politician’s gift for signing autographs and posing for photos,” the story says, and is frequently seen in Washington, D.C., at restaurants, the Kennedy Center and the grocery store, the story says.
The story notes that Sotomayor’s likeness and “wise Latina” phrase wound up on T-shirts and coffee mugs, she had a Bronx housing project named after her, and she danced at the White House to a song written in her honor.
Recently, a New York Daily News reporter caught up with Sotomayor at a Manhattan Chinese restaurant, the Post story says. The journalist asked her about the menu and whether Lindsay Lohan should have been sentenced to jail.
“You know I wouldn’t answer that question,” Sotomayor told the reporter in response to the Lohan query. “But I really admire your chutzpah.” Then she added, “That’s a New York word.”
On the bench, the Post says, Sotomayor “wrote unglamorous and largely noncontroversial opinions” and often sided with the liberal bloc. She voted with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg more than any other justice. In one case, she apparently broke new ground by using the term “undocumented immigrant” in a court opinion, instead of “illegal immigrant.”
The story also reports that Sotomayor saves the frilly collar that was a gift from Ginsburg for special occasions. More often she accessorizes her black robe with “large dangling earrings and metallic cuff bracelets that glint as she gestures,” the story says.
