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Sotomayor Nomination: The K-12 Angle

By Michele McNeil — May 26, 2009 1 min read
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Over at the School Law Blog, my colleague Erik Robelen gives a K-12 once-over on President Obama’s nomination of New York federal appeals court Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the U.S. Supreme Court.

Her personal and professional resume includes a lot of anecdotes that will resonate with the public. Her father, who had only a third-grade education, died young, leaving her mother—a nurse—to raise her and her brother. Sotomayor took comfort in Nancy Drew books, and the fictional amateur detective ended up inspiring the now-Supreme-Court-nominee to read and learn. She excelled in school, got college scholarships to Ivy League schools, and became a lawyer and jurist. Now, she works to help high school students learn about the judicial system—putting Goldilocks on trial so students can practice being prosecutors and defense attorneys, according to the White House’s official backgrounder on her.

Her legal highlights, with a K-12 twist, include her opposition to student strip searches in the N.G. ex rel. S.C. vs. Connecticut case

(Photo cutline and credit: Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor smiles as President Barack Obama applauds on May 26 at the White House in Washington. Alex Brandon/AP.)

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