“I had no need to apologize that the look-wider, search-more affirmative action that Princeton and Yale practiced had opened doors for me. That was its purpose: to create the conditions whereby students from disadvantaged backgrounds could be brought to the starting line of a race many were unaware was even being run.”

American lawyer and jurist

Sonia Sotomayor is an American lawyer and jurist who has served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States since 2009. Nominated by President Barack Obama, she became the third woman to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court. Her place in American legal history is closely tied to that appointment, which began on August 8, 2009. She is known for her work on the nation’s highest court and for public remarks that often reflect law, justice, and the responsibilities of office.