Sonia Sotomayor on Memoir, Ivy League Path, and Language Use

Kim Goff-Cruz, Secretary and Vice President for Student Life at Yale, welcomed attendees to a special event featuring Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Yale Professor Judith Resnik. Goff-Cruz requested that cell phones be turned off and that photos and videos not be taken during the presentation. She noted the significant public interest in the event, with some attendees queuing since 11 AM, and thanked everyone for braving the weather conditions.

A Conversation on Life, Law, and Personal Journeys

Goff-Cruz introduced Justice Sotomayor, highlighting her memoir, "My Beloved World," where the Justice shares her story to inspire those in difficult circumstances, emphasizing that "happy endings are possible." The memoir illustrates the importance of effort, resilience, and resolve for success, and the role of conversations and connections in understanding oneself and the world.

Professor Judith Resnik, Arthur Lyman Professor of Law at Yale Law School, was then introduced. Resnik's extensive career includes teaching, testifying before Congress, holding leadership positions in legal associations, and successfully arguing two Supreme Court cases. Goff-Cruz pointed out a notable connection between Resnik and Justice Sotomayor: Resnik was a junior faculty member at Yale when Sotomayor was a student, and Resnik argued the case Mohawk Industries Inc. v. Carpenter, for which Justice Sotomayor wrote her first Supreme Court opinion.

The Power of Language and Personal Impact

Professor Resnik began by thanking the university administration. She immediately highlighted Justice Sotomayor's impact, referencing the Mohawk Industries case. Resnik noted that Justice Sotomayor's opinion was the first in Supreme Court history to use the term "undocumented immigrant" instead of "unlawful alien" or "illegals." This choice of words was recently echoed by the California Supreme Court in the case of Sergio Garcia, an undocumented immigrant admitted to the bar, with California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye citing Sotomayor's opinion to justify the use of "undocumented immigrant" as it "avoided the potentially problematic common notations of other terms."

Resnik praised Justice Sotomayor's intellectual leadership, her engagement with issues of access to courts and the criminal justice system, and her unique perspective as a former prosecutor and trial judge. Resnik acknowledged a symposium at Yale Law School dedicated to the Justice's work but stated her intention to focus on a conversation with Justice Sotomayor about her remarkable personal journey and her book.

Returning to Yale: Memories and Reflections

Resnik asked Justice Sotomayor about her feelings on returning to Yale, particularly given her past residence on Whitney Avenue from 1976 to 1979. Justice Sotomayor expressed that returning always brings a "flood of memories," though none involved speaking before such a large audience. She recounted a fond memory of a snowstorm during her time at Yale when the city shut down completely. She and her then-husband, with their dog, brought coffee to drivers stranded on Whitney Avenue.

Justice Sotomayor reflected on how different Yale and New Haven were back then. She described the city as dangerous, especially for women, and noted the deterioration and high crime rates. She mentioned that areas like Chapel Street and Elm Street, now vibrant, were places she avoided at night. She expressed regret for not exploring the campus more due to safety concerns and encouraged current students to take advantage of the university's resources, including plays, movies, and speakers, rather than staying confined to their specific departments.

The Path to the Ivy League: An Uninformed Journey

Resnik then asked Justice Sotomayor about her decision to apply to Princeton, Yale, and Radcliffe/Harvard, given her upbringing in the Bronx and her attendance at Cardinal Spellman High School. Justice Sotomayor explained that her friend, Ken, who was one of the first people from their high school to attend an Ivy League school (Princeton), encouraged her to apply. She admitted she didn't even know what the "Ivy Leagues" were at the time. Her only exposure to Harvard was through the movie Love Story, which she later learned was filmed at Fordham University in the Bronx.

She described her lack of guidance in college choices, noting that her grandmother questioned why she wasn't applying to City University in New York and staying home like her cousins. Justice Sotomayor found it difficult to explain her aspirations for new opportunities, though her grandmother ultimately supported her out of love.

Choosing a University: Harvard, Yale, and Princeton

Justice Sotomayor recounted her visits to the Ivy League schools after being admitted.

Harvard/Radcliffe

Her visit to Harvard/Radcliffe on a rainy day left her in a state of shock. She described an interview with a senior woman in a Gothic building, adorned with pearls and silver hair, in an office with an oriental rug and a white couch. The presence of "white and black poodles" yapping in the office was so unexpected and alien to her experience that she became speechless. She felt she didn't belong and fled the office, telling the assistant to inform the students she was supposed to meet that "something came up." She went straight home, telling her mother, "Mom, I don't belong there."

Yale

Her visit to Yale involved being met by students from people of color groups who invited her to a protest. She politely declined, opting to prepare for her interview. She described the students discussing revolution, including the Cuban Revolution and civil rights leaders, which was a stark contrast to her Catholic upbringing in the Bronx. She felt the environment was "too progressive" and that she wouldn't be comfortable there, leading her to believe it wasn't the right place for her.

Princeton

Justice Sotomayor ultimately chose Princeton. She noted that in the pre-internet era, information about schools was limited to glossy brochures. Her friend Ken, being at Princeton, made a significant difference. He picked her up, showed her around, and introduced her to his "offbeat" friends, making her visit more comfortable. Her interview at Princeton was with a professor in a "cramped little office" who wore corduroys and a tweed jacket, which she recognized from Love Story, making it feel somewhat familiar. She chose Princeton because she found people she felt an affinity for.

Navigating Unfamiliar Worlds and Embracing Roots

Resnik pointed out that Justice Sotomayor's book describes her initial feeling that her Princeton classmates "seemed to come from another planet." Resnik asked how she navigated this sense of being out of place to become a summa cum laude graduate.

Justice Sotomayor explained that she gravitated towards making friends within the Latino community at both Princeton and Yale. At Yale, her five closest friends were men of color, reflecting the small number of women in her class. At Princeton, most of her friends were part of the "third world center," which was a single center for all minority groups at the time.

She recounted an anecdote about a wealthy friend at Princeton whose father was a military doctor, who complained about his uncles making more money. Justice Sotomayor ended that conversation by stating her mother raised them on $5,000 a year, highlighting the vast difference in their backgrounds. This experience, and meeting other classmates, helped her understand a "bigger world."

She used her experiences at Princeton and Yale to venture beyond her immediate community, viewing her community as a "safety net" rather than an anchor. She encouraged using it as a base to "go out and explore your surroundings," "taste and experience," and "learn what the world has to offer," returning for comfort when needed. This approach helped her navigate "unusual" circumstances throughout her life.

Resnik noted that Justice Sotomayor's Yale Law School student note, "Statehood and the Equal Footing Rights: The Case for Puerto Rican Seabed Rights," and her involvement with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (now Latina Justice) demonstrated her embrace of her roots. Resnik asked if she ever felt an impulse to distance herself from this background.

Justice Sotomayor responded that when President Obama called to nominate her to the Supreme Court, he asked her to stay connected to her community, to which she replied, "Mr. President, I don't know how to do anything else." She attributed this to her deep family ties, having spent every weekend with her Spanish-speaking grandmother who cooked only Puerto Rican food and instilled in her a love for music and poetry.

She explained that even in private practice, she understood the importance of staying connected but also engaged in other areas. When offered positions in criminal law, she chose to work with the New York State Mortgage Agency and the New York City Campaign Finance Board, believing her community needed more people involved in economic development and understanding the role of money in politics. In these roles, she was often the only Latina, but she learned to navigate these "places of power."

Justice Sotomayor admitted that sometimes she feels "not part of either world completely." She described an instance as a prosecutor where she fled an apartment in her old neighborhood due to a cockroach, realizing she had become "removed enough" from those conditions. Similarly, in her current world, she sometimes feels alien, listening to colleagues discuss opera, a world she doesn't fully inhabit. Her coping mechanism is to focus on the "positive of every world," recognizing common emotions like caring and love, and the shared experiences that create memories.

From Reticence to Confidence: The Journey of Self-Improvement

Resnik highlighted Justice Sotomayor's book, which describes her as a student and teacher, and noted that she only volunteered to speak in class as a third-year law student. Resnik asked how she gained strength and thrived in environments where she initially felt out of place.

Justice Sotomayor attributed her success to her competitive spirit, not against others, but against herself. At Princeton, she received a C on her first paper from the history department chair, who noted her lack of thematic organization and incomplete sentences. She realized her high school exams were mostly multiple-choice or short essays. A professor in a Latin American course helped her improve her writing by circling every noun and adjective, explaining she was "thinking in Spanish and translating." She then spent a summer reading grammar books from first to twelfth grade.

She emphasized that her competition was not with her peers but with her own desire to improve. She started with B's and gradually earned A's, eventually graduating summa cum laude, a term she had to look up. Similarly, at Yale, she focused on improving her legal analysis and writing, becoming managing editor of the International Law Journal to gain experience in an area of weakness.

She described her approach as "step by step," not expecting automatic change or improvement. She believes her initial lack of confidence made her accept that she would have to "work at it for a while till I get it." This approach has continued on the Supreme Court, where she aims to be a "competent justice" and constantly works to improve her opinions, making them "a little shorter."

Embracing Ignorance as a Path to Learning

Resnik noted Justice Sotomayor's repeated emphasis in her book on what she "didn't know," such as the meaning of summa cum laude or Phi Beta Kappa. Resnik asked why she chose to highlight her ignorance rather than her knowledge.

Justice Sotomayor explained that it wasn't about highlighting what she didn't know, but about "showing you how to learn." She wanted to convey to students that "there's no stupid question," only "ignorance," which is correctable. Ignorance, she clarified, is simply not knowing something due to lack of experience or exposure.

She believes that for people from different cultures, there's much they don't understand in new environments. Instead of remaining silent, one can "quietly and in your own way go back and ask someone who you have trust in to explain it to you." She always sought out "kindly" people to explain things.

She shared an anecdote from her first year on the Supreme Court. During discussions, a colleague would sometimes say something she didn't understand. She would lean over to Justice Stevens and ask, "John, what's he talking about?" Justice Stevens would then direct her to a specific case or explain the colleague's long-held views. If she couldn't interrupt, she would ask another justice during a coffee break. This willingness to admit ignorance helped her navigate the "continuing conversation" among justices who had worked together for years. Now, she is part of that conversation, with her own authored cases being debated.

Affirmative Action: Opening Doors and Proving Quality

Resnik brought up the topic of affirmative action, noting that Justice Sotomayor's credentials were sometimes questioned, and asked her to speak about its utility, especially in a university setting.

Justice Sotomayor prefaced her remarks by stating she was discussing affirmative action as it existed when she was in school, acknowledging that the law has since changed. She explained that affirmative action arose from the civil rights movement when universities realized their lack of diversity. Historically, elite universities recruited from a narrow pool of schools, creating an "insider admission process."

She explained that universities took a risk by admitting students from unknown backgrounds. She cited her friend Ken, who was admitted to Princeton because a math teacher at her high school, Spellman, advocated for him. Ken's success led to her admission, and her success, in turn, led to an exponential increase in students from Spellman attending Ivy League schools, including non-minority students.

Justice Sotomayor stated, "without affirmative action, I couldn't even have participated in the race of a good education because I didn't even know that there was a race being run." She emphasized that one cannot get to the starting line of a place like Princeton without knowing it exists and what it requires. This is why she dedicates time to speaking at inner-city schools and encourages institutions to visit high schools and meet with freshmen to inform them about college opportunities. She believes the opportunities she received were crucial to her success, and her Ivy League education was a significant factor in her Supreme Court nomination.

Reflections on Authorship and Future Plans

Resnik concluded by asking Justice Sotomayor if, looking back at her book, she wished she had said more, less, or differently, and if she planned to write another book.

Justice Sotomayor said that if she were to rewrite the book, she would discuss more of the "things that I watched others do more that weren't successful," as she had focused on her own successful coping mechanisms. She has given speeches on these lessons to vary her book talks.

She admitted to being apprehensive about sharing private details in the book and worried about its reception by colleagues and the public. A month before its release, a reporter broke the embargo, highlighting "sensational stories" without context, such as the anecdote about quaaludes as a wedding gift. She feared the public would fixate on these details.

However, her fears were "misplaced" as the initial reviews focused on the book's message. She learned a valuable lesson: being open about herself led to friends sharing private details of their own lives, bringing them closer in an unanticipated way.

Regarding a second book, Justice Sotomayor laughed, emphasizing the immense effort involved in writing "My Beloved World." She described it as a "work project" she undertook during her first summer vacation after joining the court. She dictated her stories into a Dictaphone, had them transcribed, and then organized them into piles. A friend's 25 follow-up questions led to two more months of dictation. She spent three summers working on the book and declared she is "taking a vacation now."

The conversation concluded with Professor Resnik thanking Justice Sotomayor, highlighting that everyone present was a beneficiary of institutions like Yale opening their doors more widely.