Breaking in the rise of Sonia Sotomayor and the politics of justice

"From a leading judicial biographer comes the untold story of Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina Supreme Court justice To become the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice, Sonia Sotomayor went against the odds. Her historic appointment in 2009--made by President Obama, whose own 2008 victory appe...

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Main Author: Biskupic, Joan (Author)
Format: Books Print Book
Language: English
Published: New York : Sarah Crichton Books, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014.
Edition: First edition.
Subjects:
Summary: "From a leading judicial biographer comes the untold story of Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina Supreme Court justice To become the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice, Sonia Sotomayor went against the odds. Her historic appointment in 2009--made by President Obama, whose own 2008 victory appeared improbable--flowed from cultural and political changes in America that helped lift up this daughter of a Puerto Rican nurse and a factory worker. Sotomayor saw opportunities and, with street smarts and savvy, she seized them. In Breaking In, journalist Joan Biskupic weaves a political narrative centered on Sotomayor's fortuitous timing and personal striving. From housing projects in the Bronx to Princeton University and Yale Law School, Sotomayor's life tracked the ascent of Latinos in America. Along the way, she elicited admiration and, as a self-described "affirmative action baby," resentment. At every step in her climb to the federal bench, she almost did not make it. As Biskupic reveals with extensive research and reporting, Sotomayor developed the connections to navigate a system known for ravaging nominees, especially when race or ethnicity was an element. Obtaining close access to Sotomayor and interviews with the other justices, Biskupic shows how Sotomayor challenges an institution where justices, as a group, have been relatively bland and socially conforming even as they differ radically on the law. In a book that picks up where Sotomayor's bestselling memoir left off, Biskupic explores the difference this justice is making"--
"The untold story of Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina Supreme Court Judge, from a leading judicial biographer"--
Physical Description: 274 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates ; 24 cm
Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references (pages 252-256) and index.
ISBN: 9780374298746 (hardback)
0374298742 (hardback)
9780374712419 (ebook)
0374712417 (ebook)
Author Notes: Joan Biskupic has covered the U.S. Supreme Court for more than twenty years and is the author of several books, including American Original: The Life and Constitution of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and Sandra Day O'Connor: How the First Woman on the Supreme Court Became Its Most Influential Justice . Biskupic is an editor in charge for legal affairs at Reuters News . Before joining Reuters in 2012, she was the Supreme Court correspondent for The Washington Post and for USA Today . A graduate of Georgetown Law, she is a regular panelist on PBS's Washington Week with Gwen Ifill. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and daughter.