Washington, DC – Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine issued the following statement after President Obama announced his selection of Sonia Sotomayor as his nominee to the United States Supreme Court. Chairman Kaine, the current Governor of Virginia, worked as a civil rights lawyer for 17 years. His experience includes substantial trial and appellate-level legal work.

“Nominating a justice to the Supreme Court of the United States is one of a President’s most serious responsibilities. Today, President Obama announced an outstanding nominee in Sonia Sotomayor. Her experience in the American judicial system, coupled with her inspiring life story and fierce intellect, make her uniquely qualified to serve on the nation’s highest court.

“Sonia Sotomayor was born and raised in a public housing project in the South Bronx to immigrant parents of Puerto Rican descent. Sotomayor’s mother instilled in her a belief in the power of a good education and driven by that belief, Sotomayor graduated with the highest honors from Princeton University and Yale Law School.

“Sotomayor has worked at nearly every level of the American judicial system for the past three decades: as a district attorney prosecuting violent crimes, as a corporate litigator working on complex commercial cases, as a federal district judge, and most recently, as a judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. She has been lauded as a fearless jurist, with a sharp and independent mind and a deep commitment to the rule of law and our constitutional traditions.

“In every way imaginable, Sonia Sotomayor has lived the American dream. She will be the Court’s first Latina, its third woman, and the only Justice on the current court with experience as a trial judge. I commend President Obama on his choice and congratulate Judge Sotomayor on her nomination.”

DNC

– by Lisa Olivares | Send this to a friend