What is Sonia Sotomayor's Net Worth and Salary?
Sonia Sotomayor is a lawyer and jurist who has served as an associate justice on the US Supreme Court since 2009. Sonia Sotomayor has a net worth of $6 million. Nominated by President Barack Obama, she is the third woman and first woman of color to serve in that position, as well as the first Hispanic. Prior to this, Sotomayor served on the US District Court for the Southern District of New York and the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Early Life and Education
Sonia Sotomayor was born on June 25, 1954 in the Bronx borough of New York City to Puerto Rican parents Juan and Celina. When she was nine, her father passed away, and she was subsequently brought up by her mother. Sotomayor has a younger brother named Juan Jr. As a youth, she went to Blessed Sacrament School, where she graduated as valedictorian. Sotomayor then attended Cardinal Spellman High School, from which she also graduated as valedictorian. She went on to enroll at Princeton University; there, she became a student activist focused on increasing Latin representation in the school faculty. Sotomayor graduated summa cum laude from Princeton in 1976 with a degree in history. Subsequently, she enrolled at Yale Law School, where she served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal. Sotomayor graduated with her JD from Yale in 1979.
Career Beginnings
Thanks to the recommendation of Yale professor José A. Cabranes, Sotomayor was hired straight out of law school as an assistant DA under New York County's Robert Morgenthau. Working in the trial division, she prosecuted a number of cases, including those pertaining to shoplifting, robbery, and assault. Sotomayor gained a reputation for being tenacious, intelligent, and prepared. Next, from 1983 to 1986, she had her own informal solo practice, through which she did legal consulting. During this time, Sotomayor also became an associate at the commercial litigation firm Pavia & Harcourt; in 1988, she became a partner.
Beyond her legal work, Sotomayor landed a number of public service roles early in her career. In 1987, she was appointed by New York Governor Mario Cuomo to the board of the State of New York Mortgage Agency. The year after that, she was appointed by Mayor Ed Koch as a founding member of the New York City Campaign Finance Board. Among her other positions, Sotomayor sat on the boards of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fun and the Maternity Center Association.
Federal District Judge
In late 1991, Sotomayor was nominated by President George H. W. Bush for a seat on the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. On August 11, 1992 she was confirmed by the Senate. In the process, Sotomayor became the youngest judge in the Southern District and the first Hispanic federal judge in the history of the state of New York. As a trial judge, she developed a reputation for being prepared, eloquent, and fairly uncompromising. Her notable rulings included Silverman v. Major League Baseball Player Relations Committee, Inc.; Dow Jones v. Department of Justice; New York Times Co. v. Tasini; and Castle Rock Entertainment, Inc. v. Carol Publishing Group.
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Court of Appeals Judge
In 1997, Sotomayor was nominated by President Bill Clinton for a seat on the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. However, her nomination was met with antipathy by many racist Republican senators, who tried to delay her confirmation. Finally, in late 1998, Sotomayor was confirmed by the Senate. Across her decade-long tenure on the Second Circuit, she heard appeals in over 3,000 cases and authored around 380 majority opinions. In her role, Sotomayor was known for being vigorous and forthright in her questioning. Her notable rulings included Center for Reproductive Law and Policy v. Bush; Pappas v. Giuliani; United States v. Quattrone; Leventhal v. Knapek; Ricci v. DeStefano; and Correctional Services Corp. v. Malesko.
Supreme Court Justice
In 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Sotomayor for a seat on the Supreme Court. As in her past nominations, she was strongly attacked by Republicans; ultimately, however, she was confirmed by the Senate. This made her only the third woman and the first-ever woman of color to serve on the Supreme Court. Moreover, she became the first Hispanic person to serve in the position. On the Court, Sotomayor has been noted for her support of defendant rights and criminal justice reform, as well as for her impassioned dissents on various issues relating to gender, race, and ethnicity. Among her notable rulings, she wrote the majority opinion in J.D.B. v. North Carolina and was part of majority decisions in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius and Arizona v. United States. Meanwhile, she was a sharp dissenter in such cases as Burwell v. Hobby Lobby; Mullenix v. Luna; Utah v. Strieff; and Whole Woman's Health v. Jackson.
Teaching and Speaking
In her other positions, Sotomayor was an adjunct professor at the NYU School of Law from 1998 to 2007. During that time, she also lectured in law at Columbia Law School. Sotomayor has also spoken at numerous venues over the years, and has given commencement speeches at various colleges.
Personal Life
In 1976, Sotomayor married her high school sweetheart Kevin Noonan. He went on to become a patent lawyer and biologist. The couple had an amicable divorce in 1983.
In 2013, Sotomayor published her first memoir, "My Beloved World." Five years later, she released another memoir entitled "Turning Pages: My Life Story." Sotomayor has also penned the books "Just Ask! Be Different, Be Brave, Be You" and "Just Help! How to Build a Better World."
