CLIP AND SAVE: FACTS ABOUT SONIA SOTOMAYOR

CLIP AND SAVE: FACTS ABOUT SONIA SOTOMAYOR (thanks to nolimits.org)

Six days after President Obama nominated Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court, some important facts are being obscured by the name calling (and no, I don't think that's an accident). So here, to help remind us all what's at stake in this debate, some important facts about Sonia Sotomayor:

Number of years as a judge: 17 years: 6 years as a District Judge; 11 years on the Court of Appeals.

With 17 years of service as a federal judge, Sotomayor has had more judicial experience than either John Roberts or Samuel Alito had when they were nominated to the Supreme Court by George Bush;

Number of years as a prosecutor: 5

Sotomayor served for 5 years as an assistant district attorney in the office of highly respected Robert M. Morgenthau Jr. of New York, prosecuting crimes including shoplifting, robbery, assault and murder;

Number of years in private law practice: 8

She specialized in intellectual property litigation and international law with the firm of Pavia and Harcourt in New York; had been elected partner by the time she left to become a federal judge.

Number of academic honors: At least 4

Sotomayor was valedictorian of her high school class; graduated summa cum laude from Princeton (highest honors) where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and awarded the Pyne Prize, the top award for undergraduates, reflecting high grades and extracurricular activities; and was an editor of the Yale Law Review;

Number of times saved Major League Baseball: 1

In 1995, Sotomayor issued the injunction against Major League Baseball, preventing it from imposing new collective bargaining rules unilaterally and hiring replacement players. As a result, the players ended their strike and the season began - the next day.