Rush applauds Obama's Supreme Court Nominee

CHICAGO ––  Today, U. S. Rep. Bobby L. Rush (IL-01), applauded President Barack Obama's selection of U.S. Circuit Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace retiring Justice David H. Souter on the U.S. Supreme Court.  If confirmed, she will become the first Latino American to hold a seat on the high court.

Sotomayor, 54, a Princeton and Yale law school grad, has been on the U.S. Appeals Court for the Second District, which covers Connecticut, New York, and Vermont, since 1998. In 1992, she became a federal judge for the Southern District of New York.  She grew up in a Bronx housing project after her working-class parents moved to New York from Puerto Rico and has said she dreamed of becoming a judge after reading the "Nancy Drew" book series.

"Judge Sotomayor is a great choice," Rush said. "Her life presents a compelling story--one that indicates that the plight and problems of the struggling, the working-class and those who live in the margins of society will have a judicial advocate on the high court.

"Sotomayor's life mirrors the lives of most minorities who dare to reach for the American Dream," he said. "Her experience far exceeds any other recent justice at the time of their nomination."

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