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An undated handout photo shows US Court of Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor - Source: Reuters -
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President Barack Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the US
Supreme Court, selecting a woman who would be the court's first
Hispanic justice and a liberal who is unlikely to change its
ideological balance.
Sotomayor, 54, is a US appeals court judge who grew up in a public
housing project in New York City and is the daughter of Puerto
Rican immigrants.
She would replace retiring Justice David Souter, who was part of
the court's liberal wing.
The nine justices, who decide controversial cases on abortion and
the death penalty, have been closely divided on many contentious
issues, often splitting between a five-member conservative majority
and four dissenting liberal justices.
Conservatives quickly moved to criticize Obama's choice, but
political analysts said that - barring unexpected scandal - it was
unlikely the nomination would be derailed.
Supreme Court justices serve for life but their nomination must
be approved by the US Senate, where Obama's fellow Democrats have a
solid majority.
Obama, who had spoken of empathy as a criteria for the job, called
Sotomayor an inspiring woman as he announced his pick at the White
House.
He recounted Sotomayor's humble beginnings, saying she had lived
out the American dream.
Sotomayor is most widely known for her decision as a trial judge in
1995 to bar Major League Baseball owners from using replacement
players, ending a strike in one of America's favourite
sports.
"Some say that Judge Sotomayor saved baseball," Obama said.
While liberal groups welcomed the nomination, conservatives and
business groups reacted cautiously.
The Chamber of Commerce said it was important to focus on how
her views would affect economic growth and businesses, and Senate
Republican Leader Mitch McConnell promised to thoroughly examine
her record.
Patrick Leahy, the Democratic chair of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, said he was committed to ensuring Sotomayor was seated
before the Court's term begins in October.
Real world consequences
As a judge on the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York,
Sotomayor has often sided with plaintiffs in cases involving race,
sex, age and disability discrimination and has ruled against
businesses in cases on environmental law and securities
litigation.
The two business rulings were later reversed by the Supreme
Court.
"I strive never to forget the real world consequences of my
decisions on individuals, business and government," Sotomayor told
the White House gathering.
Sotomayor would be the third woman to serve on the court and would
join the only other woman currently on the panel, Ruth Bader
Ginsburg.
Hoping to show a consultative approach, Obama spoke with every
member of the Senate Judiciary committee - both Democrats and
Republicans - before he made a decision.
Sotomayor was part of a short list of candidates that also included
US appeals court judge Diane Wood, Homeland Security Secretary
Janet Napolitano and Solicitor General Elena Kagan, US officials
said.
Obama interviewed each of the four for an hour at the White House
last week.
Sotomayor spent a total of seven hours last Thursday at the
White House, including the one-hour interview with Obama, which was
the first time the two had met.
Fight looms
Obama urged lawmakers to swiftly confirm Sotomayor's
nomination.
But analysts noted that Obama, a former senator, voted against
Republican President George Bush's two Supreme Court nominees, John
Roberts and Samuel Alito, and said his choice was certain to
provoke a fight.
"He selected somebody who virtually guarantees a confirmation
fight. This would be the person the Republicans likely would have
selected for the political potential," said George Washington
University law professor Jonathan Turley.
He cited her controversial remark, in a speech at Duke University
in 2005, that the appellate court was a place where policy is made,
and her appeals court's ruling in a case involving fire-fighters in
New Haven, Connecticut.
Nineteen New Haven fire-fighters sued their department arguing they
were refused promotion because they were white after the city threw
out the results of a promotion exam because it yielded too many
white applicants and no black candidates.
The court upheld the city's decision, and the case is now before
the Supreme Court, which appeared divided over the issue during
arguments last month.
Sotomayor's role in the case is not known, but it is likely to
provide fuel to conservatives opposed to affirmative action, or
policies aimed at favouring minorities in order to redress past
discrimination.
While some Republicans indicated they planned a fight over the
nomination, there was little chance they could upset it.
Democrats control 59 seats in the 100-member Senate, and
Republicans are unlikely to be able to get near-unanimous party
support to muster 40 votes needed to block Sotomayor's nomination
with procedural tactics.
Sotomayor has been a Court of Appeals judge in New York since
1998.
Before that she served as a US District Court judge for the
Southern District of New York.
Her mother, a nurse, had to support her and her brother after
Sotomayor's father died when she was nine.
Sotomayor, who is divorced, graduated from Princeton University and Yale Law School and began her law career in 1979 as an assistant district attorney in New York County.
