When a young person, even a gifted one, grows up without proximate living examples of what she may aspire to become--whether lawyer, scientist, artist, or leader in any realm--her goal remains abstract. Such models as appear in books or on the news, however inspiring or revered, are ultimately too remote to be real, let alone influential. But a role model in the flesh provides more than inspiration; his or her very existence is confirmation of possibilities one may have every reason to doubt, saying, 'Yes, someone like me can do this.

While many cases are decided unanimously or with different voting coalitions Sotomayor has continued to be a reliable member of the liberal bloc of the court when the justices divide along the commonly perceived ideological lines. Sotomayor refused to be interviewed by the firm further and filed her complaint with a faculty–student tribunal which ruled in her favor. Wallingford Board of Education (1999) the parents of a black student alleged that he had been harassed due to his race and had been discriminated against when he was transferred from a first grade class to a kindergarten class without parental consent while similarly situated white students were treated differently.

Sotomayor was born in The Bronx New York City and is of Puerto Rican descent. She worked as an assistant district attorney in New York for four and a half years before entering private practice in 1984. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.