A Conversation with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor

On January 4, 2023, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor joined AALS President Erwin Chemerinsky in conversation about her life, career, and thoughts about how law schools can make a difference. Justice Sotomayor appeared via live video conference and took audience questions as selected and moderated by President Chemerinsky. The session took place at the 2023 AALS Annual Meeting in San Diego.

Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice, was born in Bronx, New York, on June 25, 1954. She earned a B.A. in 1976 from Princeton University, graduating summa cum laude and a member of Phi Beta Kappa and receiving the Pyne Prize, the highest academic honor Princeton awards to an undergraduate. In 1979, she earned a J.D. from Yale Law School where she served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal. She served as Assistant District Attorney in the New York County District Attorney’s Office from 1979–1984. She then litigated international commercial matters in New York City at Pavia & Harcourt, where she served as an associate and then partner from 1984–1992. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush nominated her to the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, and she served in that role from 1992–1998. In 1997, she was nominated by President Bill Clinton to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit where she served from 1998–2009. President Barack Obama nominated her as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court on May 26, 2009, and she assumed this role August 8, 2009.