Statement from California Democratic Party Chairman John Burton on President Obama’s nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court

I commend President Obama’s historic nomination today of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Judge Sotomayor’s story is one that many Californians can relate to. She is the daughter of Puerto Rican immigrants raised in a housing project in the South Bronx. Judge Sotomayor’s mother, a widow, worked two jobs and scrimped to send Sonia and her brother to Catholic schools.

Sonia Sotomayor earned a scholarship to Princeton, graduating second in her class, and went on to Yale Law School where she edited the Yale Law Journal. Her legal and judicial experience is vast and varied.

When confirmed, Judge Sotomayor will be the first Latina to serve on the United States Supreme Court and only the third female justice ever.