« Environment - IDEM and its chief in the news | Main | Ind. Decisions - Court of Appeals issues 1 today (and 11 NFP) »
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Courts - "Justice Sotomayor adds celebrity to court"
The Washington Post on Nov. 17th had this lengthy story reported by Jesse J. Holland of the AP. Some quotes:
WASHINGTON -- Apparently, no one told Sonia Sotomayor that Supreme Court justices are supposed to be circumspect, emerging from their marble palace mainly to dispense legal wisdom to law schools, judges' conferences and lawyers' meetings.Since becoming the first Hispanic justice, Sotomayor has mamboed with movie stars, exchanged smooches with musicians at the White House and thrown out the first pitch for her beloved New York Yankees. A famous jazz composer even wrote a song about her: "Wise Latina Woman."
In short, Sotomayor has become a celebrity - all without having made a single major decision at the nation's highest court.
It's not that other justices don't have their own particular glamour.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia - both opera lovers - recently had roles in the opening performance of "Ariadne auf Naxos" for the Washington National Opera. Other justices have done tours to promote their books.
But that kind of fame rarely reaches the man on the street. * * *
It's not as if Sotomayor is pushing this public recognition.
In fact, apart from a C-SPAN program that interviewed all the justices, she is refusing television, magazine and newspaper interview requests, including a request for comment from The Associated Press for this story. Sotomayor even nixed plans by famed photographer Annie Liebowitz to shoot her for a photo spread in Vogue magazine.
She did allow Latina magazine to photograph her inside the Supreme Court building, but wouldn't submit to a formal interview even though a friend wrote the accompanying article. Wearing her black robe, the justice appeared on the cover of the latest issue prominently displaying her bright red fingernails, which White House aides had persuaded her to repolish in a demure neutral shade last July for her Senate confirmation hearing.
Even though she's avoided interviews, people recognize her everywhere. "There are people who can identify her in a line of pictures who couldn't identify some of the people who are big movie stars," Thompson said.
Part of the adulation stems from the historic nature of her appointment: the first Hispanic on the court, and only the third female, after retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and current Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 19, 2009 12:35 PM
Posted to Courts in general