Summary
When Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed as the first Latino Supreme Court Justice, many people celebrated her achievement. Those who knew her history spoke about how she had risen from government housing to attend Ivy League schools and become a successful attorney and judge. Yet her story was far more complex. It is the story of her mother, who overcame great odds as a Spanish-speaking immigrant who eventually earned a nursing degree. It is also the story of a girl who believed her diabetes wouldn't let her be a detective like Nancy Drew, so she decided to become a lawyer like Perry Mason. It is the story of how one woman rose to the U.S. Supreme Court despite enormous opposition.
About the Author(s)
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, John Bankston began writing professionally while still a teenager. Since then, more than 200 of his articles have been published in magazines and newspapers across the country, including The Tallahassee Democrat, The Orlando Sentinel, and The Ocala-Star Banner. He also worked as an investigative reporter for the Tallahassean. Bankston is the author of more than 60 biographies for young adults, including works on scientist Stephen Hawking, anthropologist Margaret Mead, author F. Scott Fitzgerald, and actor Heath Ledger. In elementary school, he began reading the novels of Earl Stanley Gardner, and, like Sonia Sotomayor, developed an interest in law because of Perry Mason. He has worked for a number of law firms in litigation support, client intake and as a document reviewer for pretrial discovery. He currently lives in Huntington Beach, California.