Obama's Supreme Judge

Reporter: Nadja Bernhard

Camera: Alan Lebow/ Gregg McNair

Editor: Jan Greisiger

Speaker: Angelika Lang

The American President has made a nomination which will go down in history; Sonia Sotomayor will be the first Spanish-speaking member of the Supreme Court, and the and the second sitting woman in the highest court of the United States.

0´32 - 0´42

OT Sonia Sotomayor

Each of you whom I love deeply will know that my heart today is bursting with gratitude for all you have done for me.

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OT Melissa Viverito, Councilwoman (Julia)

“And I cried. I was very emotional. It was an incredible moment as a Puerto Rican woman, as a Latina, to see that our first African American President was nominating the first Puerto Rican, the first Latina to the Supreme Court.”

Puerto Rican Melissa Viverito has come a long way herself: she is a council woman in New York's Spanish Harlem district. Currently she is preparing for her re-election campaign. That one should not resign oneself to one's fate, but instead take control of it, is an important message in a community where success stories are rare, she tells us. 

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OT Melissa Viverito, Concilwoman(Julia)

“So to see that this woman who came from very humble means, who worked really hard, was diligent, has integrity and came to this position based on her hard work I think is way of redeeming us and it really is an incredible moment.”

Sonia Sotomayor grew up in the dreary social housing of the infamous South Bronx. Her father, a factory worker, died when she was nine years old. Her mother took on two jobs and worked six days a week to provide Sonia with a better education. As a result of her hard work and ambition, Sonia flourished and went on to attend Princeton and Yale. She has since carved out a formidable career as a lawyer. Most recently the 54-year-old has held the prestigious position of judge in the New York Court of Appeals.

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OT Lisa Navarette, Vice-President of the Association of Latin American Lawyers (Katinka)

“It’s really the promise of the American Dream, that it can happen. It happened to Barack Obama. It happened to Michelle Obama. It happened to Sonia Sotomayor and it happens to millions of people in the Latino community and I think that’s what also makes her nomination have such resonance in our community because we know that story. We know how much she credited her mother, two jobs, not having enough education of their own but making sure we got an education. That’s a story that is very very common in our community so I think we relate a lot to it and I think the President did as well.“

The Supreme Court in Washington is the most powerful court in the world. What happens within these walls shapes the legal reality of the country. In 1954 it ruled against racial segregation in schools. In 2000, In 2000, after one of the country's

most controversial elections, the Supreme Court nominated George W. Bush as the country's new president.

The nine Supreme judges are appointed for life. Nothing will change regarding the balance of power, since the liberal Sotomayor is following in the footsteps of an equally liberal judge. But the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, is convinced that the reorganisation process has already begun.

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OT Andrew Grossman, Conservative Analyst (Martin)

“After Judge David Suiter announced that he was going to be retiring, from the very ‘get-go’ was a lot of speculation that the President would nominate a Hispanic. So it does seem likely that there was some political considerations that went into making this decision. It just seems like a strange way to pick someone who is going to be serving on the Supreme Court with a lifetime appointment. After a few years out, race is going to matter and ethnicity is going to matter somewhat less than ideology and judicial approaches.”

What makes Latinos so interesting from a political perspective is something we can witness here at the Puerto Rico Festival in Spanish Harlem: The Latino Community is strikingly young.

With a population of almost 46 million, Latin Americans constitute the largest minority in the United States. In the last presidential elections nearly 70 per cent voted for the Democrats.

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OT Lisa Navarette, Vice-President of the Association of Latin American Lawyers (Katinka)

“It’s the most rapidly growing community in the United States. We were the most rapidly growing vote in the United States. We were merely ten million people. Latinos voted in last years elections, we made a difference. We believe, in a number of states that we are very very close so I think we are a force to be reckoned with and I think that is something that is going to be more and more apparent and I think her nomination is a reflection of our growing prominence in US society.”

A few blocks away from the Puerto Rican Festival, Gloria Quinonis has opened up her house for a BBQ party. For three generations the Quinonis have lived here. The apartment is small, yet it has a back garden - one which offers enough space to celebrate and discuss the nomination.

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OT Gloria Quinonis, Pensioner (Julia)

“Obama is saying, our President is saying we are all part of the United States. He’s opening that up and he’s saying ‘this is America, America is not just white men.’”

Most of the guests here were actually born in the USA, yet full social integration has been denied to them. These two rappers tell us of regular assaults by the police. Latinos are at the bottom of the social pecking order.

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OT Rephstar, Rapper (Katinka)

“I think it is an opportunity to reach down and help someone else and get to that level. She’s actually not a new bird, she has been there for a very long time and was never called to that task until Obama showed up. So really, it took Obama for her to get the recognition that she really deserves. She has been doing her thing for many many years and representing in Washington DC for a lot of people.”

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OT Patty Dures, Rapper (Martin)

“Now it is almost like we are looking towards the future, who could come up next?  Even little kids now are able to see this happening and Obama and Sotomayor are inspired by that. It’s like ‘Wow, I could actually be a politician, I could be in a position of power and make change for my community.’”

OT Gloria Quinonis, Pensioner (Julia)

“And I think that he offfered that hope to them, because he is a young man.“

Gloria Quinonis is overcome with emotion.  There is still much to be done in terms of integrating Latinos, she tells us once the cameras are turned off. But she is confident that her grandchildren can expect to live in a fairer society.