By Wei Wang
Sonia Sotomayor would bring more dynamics to the U.S. Supreme Court that she was confirmed by the Senate to sit on, said a scholar on Thursday.
As the first Hispanic and the third female justice on the country's highest court, Sotomayor would bring her own experience to the conversations and discussions on the court, said Russell Wheeler, a Brookings senior fellow on the selection of U.S. judges.
"So we have to assume the dynamics on the court will be affected by the fact that her experience is different from those of other justices on the court," he told Xinhua.
The 55-year-old judge was born to Puerto Rican parents in Bronx, New York, and raised up by her mother on a modest salary after her father died.
She started her judicial career with a Bachelor's degree from the Princeton University and the Juris Doctor degree from the Yale Law School.
"What Sonia will bring to the court, then, is not only the knowledge and experience acquired over a course of a brilliant legal career, but the wisdom accumulated from an inspiring life's journey," said President Barack Obama when he announced her nomination in May.
In past speeches, Sotomayor has showed a rich sense of Puerto Rican heritage and even admitted her ethnic background "has a lot to do with her judgment and her way to see the facts," which, however, has drawn her criticism, said Wheeler.
After all, she was not expected to bring too much change to the court's balance between the liberal and conservative wings, at least initially, he added.
According to Wheeler, four of the nine justices on the court were considered conservative, and four others, including Justice David Souter, whose place will be taken by Sotomayor, were slightly left-centered. Justice Anthony Ken is the only one in the middle.
Sotomayor, who also has a slight left-center view of judicial process, is likely to have similar voting preferences with Justice Souter, but different outlooks on judging from two previous Supreme Court nominees who were chosen by the George W. Bush administration -- Justice John Robert and Justice Samuel Alito, said Wheeler.
"But she is only 55, and she can be on the court for 20 years or even more. Who knows the changes to how she decides on cases in 20 years," he added.
Sotomayor was the Obama administration's first pick for the highest court and also the hard one.
During his presidential campaign last year, Obama said that he would appoint "a different kind of justices than Republican appointed" -- someone who is more empathetic about issues such as environment and immigration.
On the other hand, Obama had to make a careful choice on the first nominee he sent to the court.
"He picked a sitting judge, not a professor or a member of Congress as many people thought he might," said Wheeler. "He played fairly conservative."
"He wanted someone who had a very solid judicial record. He also wanted to make history by appointing the first Hispanic justice."
The president's pick won endorsement by a total of 68 senators on Thursday including only eight Republicans, which showed the deep split between two parties on the subject.
One of the reasons why Republicans did not use some procedure devices, such as the filibuster, to delay the confirmation, was that they believed they could not defeat the nomination in a Democrats-dominated Senate, said the expert.
The other reason is that the Republican party feared blocking Sotomayor's nomination would alienate Latino immigrants in the country, which is the largest source of growing votes, he added.
On Saturday, Sotomayor will officially kick off her career in the Supreme Court after two oath-taking ceremonies administered by Chief Justice John Roberts.
Wheeler said that after being sworn in, Sotomayor, as the junior judge on the court, was expected to chair only 80 percent of cases, which, however, are very important cases.
"She also has to face challenges of working with new colleagues and trying to influence the court without being too aggressive as a junior member," he said.
(Xinhua News Agency August 7, 2009)
