HispanicBusiness

Nine Republicans crossed the aisle in a 68-31 U.S. Senate vote that will place Judge Sonia Sotomayor on the U.S. Supreme Court. Sotomayor has been confirmed to become the 111th person to ascend to the nation's highest court -- the third female and the first Hispanic to do so. She is replacing David H. Souter. The only Senator to miss the vote was Ted Kennedy (D-Mass), due to illness.

While the path to confirmation for Sotomayor, President Obama's first Supreme Court nominee, was not an easy one, nor was the road so rocky as many thought it would be.

A key point of contention to the 55-year-old's viability as a Supreme Court candidate came in the form of a diversity-related case she helped to rule on in her position as a federal appeals court judge. The U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling in Ricci v. DeStefano supported the city of New Haven, Conn.'s action of withholding test-based promotions for white firefighters when none of their black colleagues did well enough to merit the same. That ruling was subsequently overturned by Sotomayor's new colleagues on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Perhaps adding even more fuel to the fire were remarks Sotomayor delivered at University of California, Berkeley in 2001. A single sentence from those remarks ignited charges of race-based preferences against the judge. The sentence in question was: "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." Sotomayor later explained that the remark was a failed attempt at riffing on well-known remarks given by former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Sotomayor's story is one of beating the odds. From being raised in the Bronx by a single mother to graduating Princeton and Yale Law School with honors, Sotomayor never neglected her roots, taking an active role, for instance, with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. She was an assistant district attorney, then a commercial litigator, before being tapped by President George H.W. Bush in 1991 to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

CNN reports that Sotomayor will be sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts on Saturday, Aug. 8. Sotomayor's first full session with the high court is slated to start Oct. 5.

Ramona E. Romero, President of the Hispanic National Bar Association, commended the confirmation results.

"Judge Sotomayor's historic confirmation is proof positive that we Americans are committed to putting aside our differences and judging one another based on merit. It is also a reaffirmation of the promise of equal opportunity that has attracted so many to our country over the centuries," she said in a statement. "As lawyers, we are proud of the fact that soon-to-be Justice Sotomayor has the intellectual rigor, impartiality, commitment to the rule of law and independence that makes the judiciary the ultimate 'safe place' for all Americans."