Sonia Sotomayor Sonia Sotomayor Sonia Maria Sotomayor (; born June 25, 1954) is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, appointed by President Barack Obama in May 2009 and confirmed in August 2009. She has the distinction of being its first justice of Hispanic descent and the first Latina. Sotomayor was born in The Bronx, New York City, to Puerto Rican-born parents. Her father died when she was nine, and she was subsequently raised by her mother. Sotomayor graduated "summa cum laude" from Princeton University in 1976 and received her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1979, where
Hispanic–Latino naming dispute their family's country of origin. Both groups prefer the term "American" versus "Latino/Hispanic". Yet, older Hispanics are more likely to identify as white than younger Hispanics. When it comes to the preference of "Latino" or "Hispanic", the younger subgroup is more likely to state that it does not matter. If they do have a preference, both groups prefer the term "Hispanic" rather than "Latino". The term Latin America was first coined by the French in the 19th century as "Amérique latine", during the time of the French Intervention in Mexico. It is a combination of the European word "latino" and