Sonia Sotomayor
Associate Justice since 2009 and the first Hispanic justice. She previously served on the Second Circuit and the Southern District of New York, and began her career as a Manhattan prosecutor.
- Role
- Associate Justice
- Joined the Court
- 2009 (appointed by Barack Obama)
- Martin–Quinn score
- -4.19 (latest term)
- Decisions participated in
- 1,091 (Spaeth, 1946–2025 span)
- Prior roles
- Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; Judge, U.S. District Court (S.D.N.Y.); Assistant District Attorney, Manhattan
How their votes have evolved, issue by issue
- Criminal procedure: 95 votes, 68% on the liberal side.
- Free speech & press: 50 votes, 72% on the liberal side.
- Immigration: 45 votes, 84% on the liberal side.
- Federalism: 45 votes, 64% on the liberal side. Possible shift: more liberal relative to the Court, OT2009–OT2016 vs OT2017–OT2025.
- Executive & agency power: 32 votes, 53% on the liberal side.
- Voting & elections: 31 votes, 90% on the liberal side.
- Death penalty: 20 votes, 80% on the liberal side.
- Religion: 19 votes, 79% on the liberal side.
- Guns & the Second Amendment: 14 votes, 86% on the liberal side.
- Abortion & reproductive rights: 8 votes, 88% on the liberal side.
- Sexual orientation & gender identity: 8 votes, 88% on the liberal side.
- Race & affirmative action: 7 votes, 57% on the liberal side.
Before the Court
As a lower-court judge on the S.D.N.Y. (1992–1998, 139 opinions) and the Second Circuit (1998–2009, 317 opinions), Sotomayor wrote 456 opinions we could find on CourtListener: 417 for the court, 14 concurring and 25 dissenting. Most often on: Criminal procedure (52), Immigration (47), Free speech & press (16), Voting & elections (5). Selected passages appear in the “In their own words” timelines on this page.
How they question at oral argument
Over OT2023–OT2025 (3,226 substantive questions and remarks), Sotomayor's questions most often probed consequences and hypotheticals (19%), the facts and record (19%), the text (18%). Themes are assigned by a language model (75% agreement with independent reference labels). Compare all nine Justices.
Public statements, writings & appearances
A curated, sourced timeline of 23 speeches, articles, interviews, and public statements — each with a summary and a link to the original source. The interactive version with filters and full-text search loads above.
- — Co-taught "Lawyers and Litigants in Landmark Cases" in the University of Puerto Rico law summer program (University of Puerto Rico School of Law Summer Program, University of Barcelona)
Sotomayor co-taught a course titled "Lawyers and Litigants in Landmark Cases" with Indiana University McKinney School of Law professor Gerard Magliocca in the University of Puerto Rico School of Law's summer program hosted at the University of Barcelona, and held a question-and-answer session with the participating students in early July.
Topics: civic education, judicial role, stare decisis
- — Reunions conversation with the Princeton Class of 1976 (McCarter Theatre, Princeton University Reunions)
At her 50th reunion, Sotomayor urged alumni to see service to humanity as ordinary individual acts of caring rather than something confined to public office, tracing the idea to her undergraduate volunteer work. Declining to discuss politics or pending cases, she described her colleagues as people of good faith who all believe in the Constitution, singling out Justice Thomas's personal kindness to Court staff despite their frequent disagreement.
There's good in every one of my colleagues. We all believe in the Constitution.
Topics: public service, collegiality, civic engagement, court legitimacy
- — 2026 Albritton Lecture and student Q&A at Alabama Law (University of Alabama School of Law, Tuscaloosa (with Dean William Brewbaker III))
Delivering the Albritton Lecture and taking student questions, Sotomayor said shared values keep her on good terms with colleagues she rarely agrees with, and argued that although life experience shapes judges they can rise above their prejudices, citing Alabama federal judge Frank Johnson's civil-rights rulings. She also urged students to master artificial intelligence as a tool while warning it cannot substitute for their own thinking.
You'll see me walking the halls with people with whom I never agree
Topics: collegiality, judicial neutrality, judicial independence, artificial intelligence, legal profession
- — Remarks at University of Kansas School of Law criticizing Kavanaugh's immigration-stops concurrence (University of Kansas School of Law, Lawrence, KS)
Speaking at a KU Law event, Sotomayor publicly faulted Justice Kavanaugh's concurrence in the September 2025 emergency order allowing Los Angeles immigration sweeps to resume, saying he does not grasp the real-world cost of 'brief' stops for hourly workers, and insisted her own dissent spoke for precedent, not identity.
I was talking about a justice who respects precedent.
Topics: emergency docket, judicial role, stare decisis
- — Conversation with students at UCLA School of Law (UCLA School of Law, Los Angeles, CA)
In a moderated Q&A, Sotomayor discussed her role writing from the Court's minority, urged students not to be bystanders in civic life, and said she now writes to be judged by history rather than by her colleagues.
I get to speak my mind. I get to be judged, not by my colleagues, but by history.
Topics: judicial role, civics
- — Conversation with Nina Totenberg at George Washington University (Betts Theater, George Washington University, Washington, DC)
In a conversation with NPR's Nina Totenberg, Sotomayor warned about the erosion of constitutional checks and balances and said her greatest fear is that most citizens do not understand what is lost when those structures fail.
Do you understand what you're losing when that happens? I don't know that most people do
Topics: rule of law, civics, judicial independence
- — Constitution and Citizenship Day Summit: A Civics Conversation (New York Law School, New York, NY)
Sotomayor headlined the opening conversation of NYLS's inaugural Constitution and Citizenship Day Summit (moderated by Dean Anthony Crowell, with Judges Bianco, Marrero, and Cannataro), arguing that civic education is essential to upholding the rule of law and questioning whether Americans understand the difference between a president and a king.
Do we understand what the difference is between a king and president?
Topics: civics, rule of law, judicial independence
- — Remarks urging lawyers to defend the legal system (American Bar Association section event, Washington, D.C.)
Days after Chief Justice Roberts defended judicial independence, Sotomayor told an ABA audience — without naming President Trump — that lawyers' job is to stand up for people who cannot do it themselves and that the profession cannot afford to lose its current battles.
Our job is to stand up for people who can't do it themselves
Topics: legal profession, rule of law, judicial independence
- — Q&A with Princeton students on the rule of law (Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University)
Before roughly 900 students at her alma mater, Sotomayor said democracy requires active civic effort — that people make and change laws through voting and organizing — and acknowledged the country faces turbulent times requiring sustained national effort.
Laws are made by people. People change laws. Voting changes laws.
Topics: rule of law, civic engagement, voting
- — Fireside chat with Dean William M. Treanor (Georgetown University Law Center)
Amid attacks on judges, Sotomayor told Georgetown Law students that courts must be fearlessly independent to protect constitutional rights, warned that broken norms shake the foundations of the rule of law, and said lawyer-politicians who challenge the rule of law reflect a failure of law schools.
judicial independence is critical to everyone's freedom
Topics: judicial independence, rule of law, legal education, norms
- — Fireside chat with Knight Foundation CEO Maribel Perez Wadsworth (Knight Foundation event, Miami)
Without naming President Trump, Sotomayor said presidents have historically obeyed judicial rulings with few exceptions, argued the Court maintains democracy by proceeding cautiously and slowly, and urged that precedent be undone only in small measures.
if you're going to undo precedent, do it in small measures
Topics: rule of law, precedent, checks and balances
- — Remarks at the opening of the Justice and Democracy Center (St. Paul federal courthouse, Minnesota)
At the grand opening of a civics learning center in the St. Paul federal courthouse, Sotomayor told attendees that civics education is central to preserving democratic institutions.
Topics: civic education, democracy, courts
- — Conversation with students at Berkeley Law (UC Berkeley School of Law)
Speaking to about 1,300 Berkeley Law students, Sotomayor described the emotional toll of repeatedly dissenting from the conservative majority — saying every loss traumatizes her — while stressing that she gets up and keeps fighting despite a heavier, more demanding docket.
I live in frustration.
Topics: dissents, conservative majority, judicial workload
- — Conversation at the 25th Annual Liman Public Interest Colloquium (Yale Law School)
In a panel moderated by Professor Judith Resnik with six alumni, Sotomayor discussed the role of amicus briefs, the evolution of her dissents, public opinion, and the Court's relationship to the other branches.
Topics: public interest law, dissents, public opinion, amicus briefs
- — Civics as a National Security Imperative (with Justice Gorsuch) (CSIS / National Security Institute (George Mason, Scalia Law) webinar)
Appearing with Justice Gorsuch in a cross-ideological online discussion, Sotomayor argued that weak civics education threatens American democracy, citing the gap between federal STEM funding (about $50 per pupil) and civics funding (about 5 cents per student).
Topics: civic education, democracy, national security
- — Conversation at the Liman Public Interest Program 20th Anniversary Colloquium (Yale Law School (with portrait unveiling))
In a conversation with Professor Judith Resnik at the Liman Program's 20th anniversary, Sotomayor reflected on how her career as a prosecutor, private practitioner, and judge gave her multiple perspectives on public-interest work; Yale also unveiled her official portrait.
Topics: public interest law, legal career, legal profession
- — James A. Thomas Lecture (conversation with Linda Greenhouse) (Yale Law School, Levinson Auditorium)
In a conversation with Linda Greenhouse, Sotomayor described her jurisprudence as centered on fair process rather than outcomes, discussed her United States v. Jones concurrence on GPS surveillance, and said she finds the term 'illegal aliens' insulting.
What I view as my jurisprudence is process.
Topics: judicial process, fourth amendment, technology, immigration
- — Fresh Air interview on My Beloved World (NPR Fresh Air with Terry Gross)
In a paperback-release interview about her memoir, Sotomayor discussed working harder as a Latina to overcome doubters at every stage of her career and reflected on her upbringing and path into the law.
In every position that I've been in, there have been naysayers
Topics: memoir, latina identity, affirmative action, perseverance
- — Remarks opposing cameras in the Supreme Court (Public remarks reported in The News Media & The Law (RCFP))
After supporting courtroom cameras at her 2009 confirmation hearing, Sotomayor publicly reversed course as a justice, saying most viewers would not take the time to appreciate what the Court is doing and that televised arguments could mislead.
don't take the time to appreciate what the Court is doing
Topics: cameras in court, transparency, oral argument
- — My Beloved World (Alfred A. Knopf (memoir))
Sotomayor's bestselling memoir traces her path from a Bronx housing project — through her father's alcoholism, a childhood diabetes diagnosis, Princeton, and Yale Law — to the federal bench, framed as an account of self-reliance, mentorship, and perseverance.
Topics: memoir, personal history, diversity, legal profession
- — Confirmation Hearing on the Nomination of Hon. Sonia Sotomayor (S. Hrg. 111-503) (U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary)
Over four days of testimony (July 13-16, 2009), Sotomayor described her judicial philosophy as fidelity to the law and walked back the 'wise Latina' remark, saying she was trying to inspire students and denying that any group has an advantage in judging.
I do not believe that any ethnic, racial or gender group has an advantage in sound judging
Topics: confirmation hearing, judicial philosophy, wise latina, fidelity to law
- — A Latina Judge's Voice (Judge Mario G. Olmos Memorial Lecture) (UC Berkeley School of Law; published in Berkeley La Raza Law Journal 13 (2002): 87)
As a Second Circuit judge, Sotomayor discussed the underrepresentation of women and minorities on the bench and argued that a judge's background and experiences inevitably and sometimes beneficially inform judging, including the later-famous 'wise Latina' passage.
a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences
Topics: judicial diversity, identity, wise latina, judging, pre court
- — Returning Majesty to the Law and Politics: A Modern Approach (Suffolk University Law Review (30 Suffolk U. L. Rev. 35, with Nicole A. Gordon))
A law review article, adapted from a lecture to Suffolk University law students and co-authored with Nicole A. Gordon, in which then-District Judge Sotomayor described law as uncertain and responsive to changing circumstances, and examined how the legal system balances competing principles.
is uncertain and responds to changing circumstances
Topics: legal realism, role of courts, law and politics, pre court