Justice Sonia Sotomayor Trivia Quiz

Answer: Puerto Rico

Sotomayor said she identifies as "Nuyorican" which refers to people of Puerto Rican descent who were not born there and were raised in New York City. Her father, Juan, was a die maker and her mother Celina was a telephone operator.

Answer: Perry Mason

Sotomayor originally said she wanted to be a detective after reading the "Nancy Drew" series but her took up a legal career because her diabetes prevented her from becoming a detective. During her time in high school, she was on the forensics team and was her class valedictorian. She was appointed to the U.S. District Court on August 12, 1992.

Answer: Yale

Sonia Sotomayor got accepted into Princeton despite narrowly missing the qualifications because of her test scores. She later explained that this was due to affirmative action because of her impoverished background. She described herself as being shy in Princeton and having to work harder than her classmates because who all went to elite high schools. She also said she was uncomfortable because there were few women at Princeton.

The same thing happened to her at Yale where she narrowly missed the qualifications for test scores but up for it because of her high marks at Princeton. At Yale, she also said she was one of few women.

Answer: Robert Morgenthau

Robert Morgenthau was an important influence on her life. As assistant district attorney, Sotomayor prosecuted a variety of crimes and would go into unsafe neighborhoods to personally interview witnesses. Later in life, Sotomayor sought elevation to higher offices within the judiciary branch of government, but because she was an independent and not registered to a party, she had no connections. Morgenthau often would promote her to certain officials to gain their attention of her.

Answer: Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice

She would become the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice in 2009. Sotomayor was extremely well qualified in the opinion of both Democrats and Republicans, though her nomination was put on hold for political reasons having nothing to do with her. It was later lifted.

Answer: A baseball strike

Sotomayor ended the 1994 baseball strike with her decision in Silverman v. Major League Baseball Player Relations Committee, Inc. She sided with the players and allowed their collective bargaining agreement to go into effect. The decision came down the day before the baseball season was to begin.

As a result of this case, Sotomayor became a national figure in the judicial world and a favorite judge among baseball fans.

Answer: Al D'Amato

Republicans accused Bill Clinton of pushing Sotomayor through the federal judiciary just to get her on the Supreme Court as soon as possible, even though there was no vacancy and no indication Clinton was considering her for a seat. Democrats accused Republicans of being afraid to confirm a Hispanic female judge, even though they had confirmed her five years prior.

Al D'Amato was expecting a tough battle for re-election in 1998 (a battle he would lose) and after several influential newspaper columnists in New York and thousands of petition signers sided with Democrats, D'Amato managed to convince his colleagues to vote on her confirmation. Sotomayor was approved by a 67-29 vote.

Answer: Affirmative action

Sotomayor had ruled in favor of the town of New Haven. New Haven had declined to promote several fire fighters (mostly white but some Hispanic) who passed the necessary test because no African-Americans did. The Supreme Court narrowly overruled her and sided with the fire fighters. Sotomayor defended her original ruling by stating that it was consistent with past precedent on the topic.

She was confirmed 68-31.

Answer: With the majority in part and dissenting in part

Sotomayor (and all justices except Clarence Thomas) sided with the part of the opinion that upheld disclosure of contributions but dissented in respect to the rest of the opinion. She joined John Paul Stevens dissent that the decision was a serious detriment to American democracy by undermining the fair election system to create one with an emphasis on money.

Answer: "Undocumented immigrant" in place of "illegal immigrant"

The case involved allegations that Mohawk Industries was hiring undocumented immigrants and Carpenter was fired from his job after he refused to take the allegations back. Carpenter had previously had a conversation on the topic with the company's lawyer, a move that the Court decided meant Mohawk waived its right to attorney-client privilege.