Immigration SB 1070 Author, Opponents Spar Ahead of Supreme Court Hearing
In a preliminary hearing, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin turned the conversation on Capitol Hill to the DREAM Act, saying that Arizona’s SB 1070 targeted innocent young immigrants.
Tag: U.S. Supreme Court
Stories
In Puerto Rico, Sotomayor Becomes a Celebrity and a Source of Hope for Self-Determination
San Juan, Puerto Rico, where Sonia Sotomayor has become a celebrity. (Photo: Valeria Fernández)
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Sonia Sotomayor has gone from virtually unknown to a symbol of national pride for Puerto Ricans after her nomination by President Barack Obama to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“This has been a major event in our country, very flattering,” said Marcial Díaz, 61, a Humacao resident who chose the Spanish word país, or country, to refer to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
“In Puerto Rico, they might not know how she decided even one of her cases but for them, and for us, she’s Puerto Rican,” said Susanne Ramírez de Arellano, news director at the Univisión affiliate in Puerto Rico.
“She is a heroine, as (Joe) Acaba, the astronaut, is a hero, as Benicio del Toro is a hero.”
U.S. Senators From New York Ask Obama To Name a Hispanic To Supreme Court if There Is a Vacancy
By Diego Graglia, FI2W web editor
“Latinos are 15 percent of the U.S. population. But you would never know that from looking at the federal judiciary, where only seven percent of judges are Hispanic. That gross underrepresentation must come to an end—at the highest levels.”
The quote comes from an editorial published last week by El Diario/La Prensa, New York’s leading Spanish-language newspaper, in support of the potential nomination of a Hispanic appointee to the U.S. Supreme Court in the likely event that a vacancy occurs during President Barack Obama’s term of office.
The senators recommended Bronx-born judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court. (Photo: Pace University)
The editorial came after U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, both Democrats from New York, sent Obama a letter asking him to nominate a Hispanic when there is a high court vacancy. The senators reminded Obama in their letter that no Hispanic has ever been named to the Supreme Court, according to El Diario, which obtained a copy of the letter. Schumer and Gillibrand also recommended two candidates for an eventual vacancy: Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and New York Judge Sonia Sotomayor, a Bronx native who has sat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit since 1998. (more…)