Action Alert: NAACP CALLS FOR EXPEDITIOUS CONFIRMATION OF SONIA SOTOMAYOR FOR ASSOCIATE JUSTICE TO THE U.S. SUPREME COURT

NAACP

On Monday, May 26, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Judge Sonia
Sotomayor to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court; specifically, she will replace
Justice David Souter, who has announced his plans to retire.

Sonia
Sotomayor is an excellent choice. The daughter of immigrant parents (her
father, a tool-and-die worker with a third grade education, died when she was
nine years old; her mother, a nurse, raised Judge Sotomayor and her brother on a
very modest salary), she grew up in the housing projects in the Bronx. She
went on to graduate from Princeton University summa cum laude in 1976, and then
from Yale Law School (where she was the editor of the law journal) in
1979.

After law school she got a job as an assistant district attorney in New York City, where she prosecuted cases involving police brutality, murder, child pornography and assaults. After a time in private practice, she was nominated in 1991 by President George H. Bush to serve as a federal judge for the U.S. District Court, southern District of New York.

Six years later, she was nominated by President Bill Clinton to serve as an
appellate judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where she
has served since 1998. She has been a prosecutor, private litigator, trial
judge, and appellate judge. No one currently on the Court has that
complete package of experience. If confirmed for the Supreme Court, Judge
Sotomayor would bring more federal judicial experience to the Supreme Court than
any justice in 100 years, and more overall judicial experience than anyone
confirmed for the Court in the past 70 years. She has been a big-city
prosecutor and a corporate litigator, a federal trial judge on the U.S. District
Court, and an appellate judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

A thorough review of Judge Sotomayor’s record shows that she is an intelligent jurist with mainstream values and an even temperament. Her 17 years on the federal bench show that she takes an impartial and balanced approach to the cases before her, and that she is above all fair.

Hearings on Judge Sotomayor’s nomination are expected to be held in the Senate Judiciary Committee in mid-June; a vote on her confirmation will hopefully take place in July, prior to Congress leaving town for their August state work period. This will allow Judge Sotomayor to begin her service on the Supreme Court when it convenes in October for its new session.

THE ACTION We Need You To Take:
Contact both your Senators and Urge Them to support the nomination of Sonia sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court. To contact your Senators you may:

Make a Phone Call:
Call your Senators in Washington by dialing the Capitol Switchboard and asking to be transferred to your Senators' offices. The switchboard phone number is (202) 224-3121 (see message section, below).


Write a Letter (See sample letter below)
To write letters to your Senators, send them to:
The Honorable (name of Senator)
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

Send a Fax
If you would like to send a fax, call your Senators’ offices (through the Capitol switchboard) and ask for their fax numbers (you can use either the attached sample letter or the message box, below).

Send an E-Mail
To send an e-mail to your Senators, go to http://www.senate.gov/; click on “Find Your Senators”. Look up your Senators by state; go to their web sites for e-mail addresses.

Sample Letter(date)

The Honorable ___________________________
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

RE: Support for Sonia sotomayors’ snomination to the US Supreme Court

Dear Senator _______________________________;

As your constituent, I hope that you will do all you can to see that Sonia Sotomayor’s historic nomination to the United States Supreme Court is confirmed by the US Senate as quickly and as smoothly as possible. Judge Sotomayor is an excellent choice, and a thorough review of her record shows her to be an intelligent, impartial and fair-minded jurist. Furthermore, her personal background and her professional experiences will clearly be an asset as she deliberates cases before her as a Justice on the US Supreme Court.

Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic woman nominated to the highest court in the land, is clearly an inspired choice. Personally, her life story demonstrates that with hard work and intelligence the American dream is still attainable. Professionally, during her 17 years on the federal bench she has proven herself to take an impartial and balanced approach to the cases before them. She has been a prosecutor, private litigator, trial judge, and appellate judge. No one currently on the Court has that complete package of experience.

If confirmed for the Supreme Court, Judge Sotomayor would bring more federal judicial experience to the Supreme Court than any justice in 100 years, and more overall judicial experience than anyone confirmed for the Court in the past 70 years. She has been a big-city prosecutor and a corporate litigator, a federal trial judge on the U.S. District Court, and an appellate judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

I thus urge you to review Judge Sotomayor’s personal and professional history and you will clearly agree that she is eminently suited for the Supreme Court. I thus urge you to ensure that she is confirmed as swiftly and as smoothly as possible. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this issue and on how I can help ensure that Judge Sotomayor is confirmed to the United State Supreme Court by August.

Sincerely,

Remember to contact your Representative and BOTH your Senators.
(sign and print your name and
remember to include your address)