Judge Sonia Sotomayor is from New York City and is the first Latina Supreme Court Justice that was nominated by President Obama (Supreme Court Debates). “Born in the South Bronx on June 25, 1954, she was raised in a housing project and at age eight she was diagnosed with type-one diabetes” (Supreme Court Debates). “Sotomayor graduated with an A.B. from Princeton University in 1976 and received her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1979” (Supreme Court Debate). She has worked at almost every level of our judicial system for the past three decades (Supreme Court Debate). Sotomayor worked as a big-city prosecutor and a corporate litigator (Supreme Court Debate). Also, “She spent six years as a trial judge on the U.S. District Court and she was nominated by President George H.W. Bush” (Supreme Court Debate). Lastly, “For the past 11 years, she has been a judge on the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit of New York and was nominated by President Bill Clinton” (Supreme Court Debate). …show more content…
“She is an articulate and persistent questioner justice of the supreme court” (Supreme Court Review). Moreover, “Justice Sotomayor has established herself as an intellectual anchor whose incisive questioning and analysis has earned her respect of her peers” (Supreme Court Review). She is known for being an representative of the underrepresented and often argues for granting greater protections to those appellants who are disfavored, forgotten, or unpopular (Supreme Court Review). “She is also known for working tirelessly on cases and demanding similarly long hours from her clerks. She is the second most persistent questioner at oral arguments and one of the court’s most prolific writers” (Supreme Court
Annie Turnbo Malone was an entrepreneur and was also a chemist. She became a millionaire by making some hair products for some black women. She gave most of her money away to charity and to promote the African American. She was born on august 9, 1869, and was the tenth child out of eleven children that where born by Robert and Isabella turnbo. Annie’s parents died when she was young so her older sister took care of her until she was old enough to take care of herself.
Sotomayor faced a lot of racism throughout her life, and her family often struggled due to a lack of money. However, Sotomayor still shined through the struggles to show her drive, independence, and her intelligence. These three characteristics are what helped guide her journey of becoming a Supreme Court Justice. She has to have the drive to be able to make a case and form an argument. Her independence allows her to choose a side of an argument, even if she is standing alone. Finally, her intelligence is what helped her to preserver through law school in order to become a
One famous quote from Barbara Jordan is “If you’re going to play a game properly, you’d better know every rule .” Barbara Jordan was an amazing woman. She was the first African American Texas state senator. Jordan was also a debater, a public speaker, a lawyer, and a politician. Barbara Jordan was a woman who always wanted things to be better for African Americans and for all United States citizens. “When Barbara Jordan speaks,” said Congressman William L.Clay, “people hear a voice so powerful so, awesome...that it cannot be ignored and will not be silenced.”
The oldest currently serving US Senator, Dianne Feinstein, has done her share of leading our Senators and fighting to keep our country safe and free of crime. Feinstein is a member of the Democratic Party, as well as the former thirty-eighth mayor of San Francisco. Eight years after being elected into the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1970, Feinstein served as the board’s first female president. The assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk caused Feinstein to succeed as mayor of San Francisco in 1978. While Feinstein served as San Francisco’s first female mayor she renovated the cable car system and oversaw the 1984 Democratic National Convention.
Judge Sonia Sotomayor was nominated to replace Supreme Court Justice Souter on June 1, 2009 by President Barack Obama. After extensive Senate hearings by the Committee on the Judiciary, Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed by the United States Senate with a 68 to 31 vote on August 6th, 2009. (Supreme Court) Although it was clear that Republicans had no intention to filibuster the nomination, partisan lines were clearly divided both during the committee hearings and illustrated in the Senate votes. However, due to the Democratic Majority in the Senate, it was clear that Sotomayor would be confirmed. During the hearings, Sotomayor answered the questions honestly, eloquently, and cautiously. During questioning, it was evident which issues were most important to the Senate: impartiality, activism and the ‘wise’ Latina.
After moving to Rochester, NY in 1845, the Anthony family became very active in the anti-slavery movement.
The Supreme Court is the highest judicial body in the United States. Since its creation in 1789, 112 justices have served on the Court. Of these 112 justices, four of them are women. President Ronald Reagan appointed the first female justice, Sandra Day O’Connor, in 1981; she served for 25 years. Sandra Day O’Connor changed the face of women in politics. Men dominated the Supreme Court yet Sandra Day O’Connor made strides in feminist politics and women's rights by breaking the glass ceiling in the legal profession. She offered an unbiased point of view on many topics including abortion rights, the death penalty, and affirmative action.
Hillary Rodham Clinton is a well-recognized woman in the United States. Her great contribution as Secretary of State impacted people’s lives. One of many remarkable speeches Clinton gave was the “The Women Rights Speech” on the 4th World Conference on Women Plenary Session, where she used strong words and emotions to appeal the audience. Even though the speech talked about women rights, she wanted everyone including men and children to listen and take action. Her use of ethos, logos and pathos throughout the speech helped people understand women live in a world where they suffer discrimination, and she proposes solutions to solve the issue.
Patty Hearst was kidnapped from the University of California at Berkeley by the SLA (Symbionese Liberation Army) when she was 19 years old. When she got kidnapped the SLA told her she had to join them or she gets hurt. She recorded an audiotape that could be heard around the world, saying that she is now part of the SLA. When she joined them, she participated in a criminal activity with the SLA in California. When she did the crime, they said that it was robbery and extortion. She took two million dollars from her father for the SLA so they could take over the world and the people.
The Supreme Court has the highest authority in this country and throughout its existence the diversity of people in it had been lacking. On May 29, 2009 a new Supreme Court Justice was nominated, she was the first Latina to be appointed to this position and eventually was confirmed by the senate. Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination speech was a moment that brought joy to many Latinos who often did not feel represented in higher positions of authority in this country. She was the first to break the norm for this and in the speech she delivered to the country via new stations she was able to present to the country what qualified her as a Supreme Court Justice. Former President Barack Obama presented Sotomayor as a person
The American Dream has never been available to minority citizens as easily as it is to American-born citizens. Affirmative action was first implemented around the year 1972, however it was not widely accepted or practiced. During this time society was just getting used to including women in higher education institutions so the concept of including minorities in higher education was almost non-existent. My Beloved World, by Sonia Sotomayor shows the challenges that a first generation, Puerto Rican, lower socioeconomic female had during this time. Through her autobiography she shows the struggles she faced throughout her life, focusing on her application to college, college experience and insight into her cultural background. My Beloved World present the ideology of White Supremacy and other phenomenon’s such as structural inequality, and socioeconomic inequality that interfere with Sonia’s inability to receive preparation for college and these things show the that America has not made good on its promise of equal opportunity for all.
The structural layout and functions of the Supreme Court are some of the most unique aspects to any court system. Of these, the tenure of a Supreme justice in the court is perhaps the most distinctive. Supreme justices once appointed, serve a tenure term for life or until retirement that would make any professional envious. This privilege serves many purposes, both bad and good that are essential to a justice’s ability to interpret the law of the constitution without conviction. Much has been debated on the need for Supreme Court justice’s tenure to be limited. Opponents raise viable objections towards the status quo, stating that letting a justice serve for seventy plus years can cloud the judgement of a justice’s opinion to the evolving social
The United States is known as the “land of the free” attracting many immigrants to achieve the “American Dream” with the promise of equal opportunity for all. However, many groups, whose identities differed from the dominant American ideology, discovered this “American dream” to be a fantasy. In the 1960s, movements for civil rights in the United States of America included efforts to end private and public acts of racial discrimination against groups of disadvantaged people. Despite the efforts made to empower the disadvantaged groups, racialization and class differences prevailed leading to social inequality. The novel My Beloved World is an autobiography written by Sonia Sotomayor illustrating her early life, education, and career path, explaining the unresolved contradictions of American history and how they continue on in society. Prejudice against certain socioeconomic classes and races prevented equal opportunity. Sotomayor’s text explicates the racialization and class differences that many Puerto Ricans experience while pursuing a higher education, revealing the contradictions between the American promise of equal opportunity and discrimination against Puerto Ricans.
Not only has she graduated from two exceptional Ivy League colleges (Princeton and Harvard), she is also a lawyer. She was raised on the South Side of Chicago, had opportunities to study at prestigious universities, returned to her hometown, married, and raised two beautiful daughters. Unlike Barack, Michelle has two black parents and a black sibling, and she comes from a city readily associated with black life and politics. She even has a family tree that traces back to American slavery. Observers comfortably frame Michelle Obama as angry Sapphire figure, but how is that possible when she is one out of the few mothers who hold degrees from the most reputable schools around the world. Again, her critique was taken as evidence of her ideational anger. Michelle Obama is the most known example of an African American woman who has worked hard to become who she is today and is probably the most idealistic perfect woman. Still the success and difficulty she has experienced in gaining accurate recognition is emblematic, if not typical, of black women’s citizenship struggles. She is still only seen as the stereotypical black woman in the eyes of supremacist even though she has out succeeded the majority of people today. One could assume that Michelle Obama is someone who could be looked to as faultless representation of how black women can achieve and obtain such incredible power. Unfortunately, not even the first lady is respected even with her credentials. For example. there were attempts to frame her with the common trope of hypersexuality. In the heat of the general election fight, Fox News referred to her as “Barack’s baby mama”. Instead she fights strong against these over rationalized comments because she knows she is better than what they say. If Michelle Obama, the First Lady of the United States, is not recognized as credible, than it is clear that no black woman will ever be
... she addressed many problems of her time in her writings. She was an inspirational person for the feminism movements. In fact, she awoke women’s awareness about their rights and freedom of choice. She was really a great woman.