CONGRATULATIONS San Francisco La Raza Lawyers Association congratulates former board member & VP of Finance Miguel Marquez on his appointment to County Counsel of Santa Clara. Click here to read more.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SFLRA Congratulates Judge Sonia Sotomayor on her Supreme Court Justice Nomination Press Contact: Xochitl Carrion, Vice President of Communications(323) 841-9061,xcarrion@goldfarblipman.com
(San Francisco, CA, May 26, 2009) — San Francisco La Raza Lawyers congratulates Judge Sonia Sotomayor on her nomination as the next Supreme Court Justice. San Francisco La Raza Lawyers Association lauds this momentous and ground breaking nomination of the first Latina justice. San Francisco La Raza Lawyers Association supports the president in his decision.
May. 28, 2009 Sotomayor is a shining example of what people are capable of when presented with possibilities, writes Niki Solis. The Daily Journal, FORUM COLUMN By Niki Solis
Posted with the permission of
Daily Journal Corp. (2009)
The nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court is a moment that will burn in my conscience forever. It is not only that we grew up on the same gritty Bronx streets or that we attended the same Catholic high school, thanks to the sacrifice of parents who desperately believed in education as a way out of poverty, but more essentially, her nomination harnesses the promise of a new era for our country. It is an era that not only tells every child that he or she too can achieve their dreams, but one that broadcasts the achievement of those dreams for the whole world to see.
You don't have to be a "Bronxite" or a fellow Spellman High School alumna to appreciate Sotomayor's historic nomination. You don't have to be a Latino/a to stand proud at this moment in our history, where we are finally realizing that we can all succeed if given the opportunity. While many would say that Sotomayor's journey was an improbable one, what is a more just assessment is that it was based on possibilities, not improbabilities.
Here is a woman who grew up in the South Bronx projects and went to a competitive Catholic high school. She came out at the head of her class. Here is a woman who went on to Princeton University, an Ivy League school, and graduated summa cum laude, once again at the head of her class. Here is a woman who went on to what many consider to be the finest law school in the country, and was one of only a handful of people who can say they edited the prestigious Yale Law Journal, and once again, she proved that she stands firmly at the head of her class. She is remarkable not only in her achievements but in the spiritual fortitude it must have taken for her to accomplish them. The job she seeks to undertake could have been filled by a number of other accomplished individuals who have also graced the halls of top educational institutions and edited law reviews under the canopy of Ivy League institutions. I dare to say that none of these other individuals has been raised by a widowed mother, speaking Spanish before English, in the poorest and most violent streets in our country, and with little or no advantages save a belief that family and education are an indispensable means to achieve one's dreams. Sotomayor's story confirms that the principles our country holds dear can become reality not in the distant and amorphous future, but now. That is the triumph of her nomination.
As the confirmation process looms, it is certain that her opinions, speeches and lectures will be parsed for a sign that she should not serve on our nation's highest court. The political fight may be heated, as some conservatives have already vowed, or it may be uneventful. After all, given her qualifications, who could argue with her fitness to serve unless the quibble is with her politics? Regardless of the process or of the outcome of her nomination, the dams of history have been opened and the hope, which is the water that has been unleashed, will trickle down. It will trickle down to the kids in the South Bronx, and other places like it, who sit in broken classrooms that have failed them. It will trickle down to young women who struggle to make ends meet in a workforce that undervalues and underpays them. It will trickle down to anyone who has ever had a dream and hoped against hope that it would one day be realized. It is inevitable that the hope will trickle down and empower more Sonia Sotomayors to come. As long as the opportunities are there, the possibilities are boundless. It is our duty as a just society to see that these opportunities are there to meet them on their journey.
Sotomayor's journey should then be viewed as one of possibilities, not improbabilities. She has shown everyone, not just "Nuyoricans" (Puerto Ricans who hail from New York) and Latinos and Latinas, that with the right amount of fortitude borne of that American spirit that never says quit, the right amount of dedication and most importantly, the right amount of opportunity that makes for possibilities, a Latina from the South Bronx can do what many view as the improbable - become a Supreme Court justice.
Niki Solis is president of the San Francisco La Raza Lawyers Association, and a 1986 graduate of Cardinal Spellman High School in the Bronx.
Gerardo Sandoval Sworn in to San Francisco Superior Court
On April 14, 2009, the Hoborable Edmund Gerald "Jerry" Brown swore in former SF La Raza Lawyers Association board member, Gerardo Sandoval, as judge of the San Francisco Superior Court at the state building in San Francisco California. It was a well attended event of community organizers, judges of the superior court and political dignitaries. Congratulations to Judge Sandoval for a successful campaign and election to the SF Superior Court Bench." For Photos of this event, click here.
May. 28, 2009 Sotomayor is a shining example of what people are capable of when presented with possibilities, writes Niki Solis. The Daily Journal, FORUM COLUMN By Niki Solis
Posted with the permission of
Daily Journal Corp. (2009)
The nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court is a moment that will burn in my conscience forever. It is not only that we grew up on the same gritty Bronx streets or that we attended the same Catholic high school, thanks to the sacrifice of parents who desperately believed in education as a way out of poverty, but more essentially, her nomination harnesses the promise of a new era for our country. It is an era that not only tells every child that he or she too can achieve their dreams, but one that broadcasts the achievement of those dreams for the whole world to see.
You don't have to be a "Bronxite" or a fellow Spellman High School alumna to appreciate Sotomayor's historic nomination. You don't have to be a Latino/a to stand proud at this moment in our history, where we are finally realizing that we can all succeed if given the opportunity. While many would say that Sotomayor's journey was an improbable one, what is a more just assessment is that it was based on possibilities, not improbabilities.
Here is a woman who grew up in the South Bronx projects and went to a competitive Catholic high school. She came out at the head of her class. Here is a woman who went on to Princeton University, an Ivy League school, and graduated summa cum laude, once again at the head of her class. Here is a woman who went on to what many consider to be the finest law school in the country, and was one of only a handful of people who can say they edited the prestigious Yale Law Journal, and once again, she proved that she stands firmly at the head of her class. She is remarkable not only in her achievements but in the spiritual fortitude it must have taken for her to accomplish them. The job she seeks to undertake could have been filled by a number of other accomplished individuals who have also graced the halls of top educational institutions and edited law reviews under the canopy of Ivy League institutions. I dare to say that none of these other individuals has been raised by a widowed mother, speaking Spanish before English, in the poorest and most violent streets in our country, and with little or no advantages save a belief that family and education are an indispensable means to achieve one's dreams. Sotomayor's story confirms that the principles our country holds dear can become reality not in the distant and amorphous future, but now. That is the triumph of her nomination.
As the confirmation process looms, it is certain that her opinions, speeches and lectures will be parsed for a sign that she should not serve on our nation's highest court. The political fight may be heated, as some conservatives have already vowed, or it may be uneventful. After all, given her qualifications, who could argue with her fitness to serve unless the quibble is with her politics? Regardless of the process or of the outcome of her nomination, the dams of history have been opened and the hope, which is the water that has been unleashed, will trickle down. It will trickle down to the kids in the South Bronx, and other places like it, who sit in broken classrooms that have failed them. It will trickle down to young women who struggle to make ends meet in a workforce that undervalues and underpays them. It will trickle down to anyone who has ever had a dream and hoped against hope that it would one day be realized. It is inevitable that the hope will trickle down and empower more Sonia Sotomayors to come. As long as the opportunities are there, the possibilities are boundless. It is our duty as a just society to see that these opportunities are there to meet them on their journey.
Sotomayor's journey should then be viewed as one of possibilities, not improbabilities. She has shown everyone, not just "Nuyoricans" (Puerto Ricans who hail from New York) and Latinos and Latinas, that with the right amount of fortitude borne of that American spirit that never says quit, the right amount of dedication and most importantly, the right amount of opportunity that makes for possibilities, a Latina from the South Bronx can do what many view as the improbable - become a Supreme Court justice.
Niki Solis is president of the San Francisco La Raza Lawyers Association, and a 1986 graduate of Cardinal Spellman High School in the Bronx.
May 26, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO LA RAZA LAWYERS ASSOCIATION FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SFLRA Congratulates Judge Sonia Sotomayor on her Supreme Court Justice Nomination Press Contact: Xochitl Carrion, Vice President of Communications(323) 841-9061,xcarrion@goldfarblipman.com
(San Francisco, CA, May 26, 2009) — San Francisco La Raza Lawyers congratulates Judge Sonia Sotomayor on her nomination as the next Supreme Court Justice. San Francisco La Raza Lawyers Association lauds this momentous and ground breaking nomination of the first Latina justice. San Francisco La Raza Lawyers Association supports the president in his decision.
May 26, 2009 California La Raza Lawyers Association Praises President Obama for his Nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court
SAN FRANCISCO, CA-California La Raza Lawyers, a statewide association of Latino Lawyers with over 2,000 members, would like to congratulate Presdident Obama for his nomination Second Circuit Court of Appeal Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court. The nomination of Judge Sotomayor as the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court is historic and inspiring to Hispanics in the United States and to all Americans. Currently there are only 32 Hispanic Women Judges in the State of California out of approximately 1700 positions and a population in which 1 in 6 Californians are Hispanic.
The daughter of Puerto Rican immigrants, Judge Sotomayor grew up in a housing project in the South Bronx, just a short walk from Yankee Stadium. She was diagnosed with diabetes at age 8. Raised by her mother, Judge Sotomayor graduated from Cardinal Spellman High School in the Bronx. She earned her A.B. from Princeton University, summa cum laude, in 1976,where she won the Pyne Prize, the highest general award given to a Princeton undergraduate. She obtained her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1979, where she was an editor of the Yale Law Journal. She then served as an Assistant District Attorney in New York and, in 1984, entered private practice, making partner at a commercial litigation firm. She was appointed by George H.W. Bush to the Federal District Court in 1991 and elevated to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals by President Bill Clinton in 1997.
The Honorable Sonia Sotomayor is an exceptional candidates for appointment to the United States Supreme Court. We urge her speedy confirmation by the Senate.
May 26, 2009
HNBA Congratulates President Obama for Nominating Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court of the United States
Washington, D.C. - The Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) congratulates President Barack H. Obama on his decision to nominate Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court of the United States. "President Obama has nominated a jurist who is extraordinarily well-prepared to serve the American people on the Supreme Court," said HNBA National President Ramona E. Romero. "Judge Sotomayor's stellar academic credentials, extraordinary intellect, and her broad legal experience as a prosecutor, corporate attorney, and judge on the federal trial and appellate courts make her an excellent choice," Romero continued. "The historic nature of her nomination, the fact that she happens to be a Latina, and her compelling personal story are just icing on the cake," said President Romero. "Judge Sotomayor has clearly earned her seat at the Supreme Court's conference table."
Judge Sotomayor is a respected jurist in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where she has served since 1998, and was originally nominated to the federal trial bench by President George H.W. Bush in 1992. She represents the very best of our country and its promise to its people. Judge Sotomayor grew up in a working-class family in New York City. Through hard work, she earned admittance and a scholarship to Princeton University, where she obtained her undergraduate degree with the highest honors, and Yale Law School where she earned her law degree and was the editor of the law review. During most of her career, Judge Sotomayor has chosen to forego the earnings of the private sector in order to serve the American public, first as a prosecutor and then as a federal judge. In all settings, Judge Sotomayor has demonstrated a commitment to excellence, intelligence, and integrity.
We urge the U.S. Senate to proceed with the confirmation process in a fair and timely manner. We anticipate that Senators from both parties will treat Judge Sotomayor with the respect she deserves, examine her record thoughtfully, and perform their constitutional duty to advice and consent expeditiously and without obstruction.
The Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) is an incorporated, not-for-profit, national membership organization that represents the interests of the more than 100,000 attorneys, judges, law professors, legal assistants, and law students of Hispanic descent in the United States, its territories and Puerto Rico. For more information about the HNBA, please visit www.hnba.com.
May 19, 2009 New York Times
Californian Would Add Wide Experience to Court
by John Schwartz EXCERPT
Carlos R. Moreno is a long-shot candidate to fill Justice David H. Souter’s spot on the United States Supreme Court. He is the only man on most short lists when many people believe President Obama will appoint a woman; he is also, at 60, a bit old by the standards of recent appointees. But Justice Moreno, the only Hispanic member of the California Supreme Court and its sole Democrat, is accustomed to beating expectations.
April 22, 2009 The American Constitution Society's Constitution in the 21st Century project invites you to read: After Eight: Separation of Powers Concerns in the Wake of Proposition 8 An Issue Brief by:
Gonzalo C. Martinez and Troy M. Yoshino
ACS is pleased to distribute an Issue Brief by Gonzalo C. Martinez and Troy M. Yoshino entitled After Eight: Separation of Powers Concerns in the Wake of Proposition 8. This Issue Brief distills arguments that were presented in the amicus brief filed in the Proposition 8 litigation by the San Francisco La Raza Lawyers Association, for which the authors served as counsel. Proposition 8, a ballot initiative that passed in November 2008, added a new section to the California Constitution which provides that "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." The initiative's proponents intended for Proposition 8 to reverse the California Supreme Court's In re Marriage Cases decision, which found that the California Constitution's rights of liberty, privacy, equal protection, and due process protected the right of same-sex couples to marry. A lawsuit was filed by a group of petitioners, including same-sex couples who were unable to marry and those who wanted to preserve legal recognition of their marriages, requesting the California Supreme Court to stay and immediately review the validity of Proposition 8. The majority of press attention has focused on the petitioners' arguments that Proposition 8 is invalid as an improper constitutional revision of the state constitution that could not be accomplished through the initiative process, which only permits constitutional amendments.
The authors agree that Proposition 8 should be struck down if the California Supreme Court finds it to have been an unconstitutional revision, but Mr. Martinez and Mr. Yoshino focus on presenting an argument in the alternative:
[T]o the extent the rights to liberty, privacy, due process and equal protection have not themselves been changed, then the pre-existing interpretation of those rights in Marriage Cases must control--and the attempt to mandate a change in the California Supreme Court's interpretation of pre-existing rights violates separation of powers principles. Thus, even if Proposition 8 is construed as a permissible amendment (as opposed to a revision), it would necessarily violate separation of powers principles because it purports to dictate a specific interpretation of certain other--indisputably unchanged--constitutional provisions.
In their Issue Brief, the authors explain their view that Proposition 8's attempt to change the Court's reasoning and interpretation of fundamental rights, "without revising the bases for the Court's reasoning, violates separation of powers principles inherent in the California Constitution and renders Proposition 8 unconstitutional." Mr. Martinez and Mr. Yoshino conclude by advising, "[t]his attempt to control judicial interpretive power should also underscore why those who care about separation of powers and the integrity of the three branches of government should be profoundly troubled by Proposition 8, regardless of their position on same-sex marriage."
Daily Journal, February 27, 2009 State Bench Becoming More Diverse By Amy Yarbrough Excerpt
…Niki Solis, president elect of the San Francisco La Raza Lawyers Association, said the numbers are promising, but suggested that more work remains to be done.
Solis praised Schwarzenegger' s Judicial Appointments Secretary Sharon Majors-Lewis for the effort she's made to put diverse judicial applicants on the bench.
Despite the overall diversity, Solis cautioned that greater emphasis should be paid to making the courts reflective of the communities they serve.
Solis points out that Schwarzenegger has only appointed one Hispanic woman to the bench in San Francisco since he took office, despite the fact that 14 percent of the city's population is Hispanic.
"These are causes for concern and we're doing everything we can to encourage a diverse pool of applicants, " Solis said of her group.
Los Angeles Times, March 15, 2009
Judge appointments are Obama's chance to shape California court
President Obama is preparing to name six new federal judges for California, an opportunity to put his stamp on the judiciary that has court-watchers recalling his campaign promises to make selections in a bipartisan manner and to name judges with "empathy" and "heart."
Many liberals say they are hoping Obama appoints lower-court judges and legal scholars guided by sympathy as well as the law, to begin reversing the sweeping conservative population of the federal bench executed by his predecessor.
Conservatives tend to argue that laws should be strictly applied to avoid infusing justice with a judge's personal views and values.
A president's choices for district courts are usually less controversial than his picks for circuit courts of appeal and the Supreme Court. District courts are relied on to simply apply the law at trial, while appeals court judges have more latitude to interpret a law's intent and context.
Because George W. Bush had so many appointments to three of the state's four federal district courts during his presidency, the benches are markedly conservative. Many of his picks may serve through and beyond even a two-term Obama presidency.
"This may not be typical of the rest of the country, but Obama may not be able to do much to affect the appointing-president balance in those courts," Russell Wheeler, a federal judiciary scholar with the Brookings Institution in Washington, said of the district courts for central, southern and eastern California.
Obama's chance to shift the balance at the appeals court level is greater, analysts say. The San Francisco-based appeals court has two vacancies now and a third opening early next year. It could see six more if Congress passes a bill seen as long-overdue relief for overwhelmed judges.
Vetting committees put together by California's two Democratic senators are already screening district court candidates, and names are being floated to the White House for the appeals court that could learn of its first new nominees next month.
Senate Republicans have already signaled their intent to challenge any Obama choices they consider too liberal by filibustering, a threat that could stall the administration's plans to quickly fill the 65 vacancies nationwide.
Some analysts see the threat as playing to the senators' conservative base more than as a genuine intention to tie up confirmations.
"Even if a larger proportion turn out to be ideological than I expect, they'll pick and choose their fights," Arthur Hellman, a University of Pittsburgh law professor and federal judiciary expert, said of the Senate Republicans, who have just a one-vote margin for stalling confirmations. "There are so many other things they care about."
Hellman points to Obama's campaign-trail call for judges with "heart" and "empathy" as an indication of the qualities he'll seek in his appointments, as well as experience handling complex cases emanating from California's leading industries.
"I think what we will see at the district court level is not ideological appointments but people with a reputation for competence and accomplishment," Hellman said, noting that judges in this state are often called upon to decide issues in entertainment, technology, biomedicine and intellectual property.
Obama has said little since his inauguration about how he'll select judges, having focused so far on quelling economic turmoil and plotting an exit from the war in Iraq.
But the courts are important to him and he'll want to appoint judges who share his ideology and values, said Peter Eliasberg of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.
"Barack Obama will care about diversity and expend his political capital on judges," Eliasberg said, contrasting the new president with President Bill Clinton, who tended to back down when the Republican-controlled Congress signaled dislike for his nominees.
Wendy E. Long, legal counsel for the conservative Judicial Confirmation Network and a former law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, says Obama has sent "conflicting signals" on how he'll make his nominations.
"Empathy is a great quality and we all want to have it," Long said. "But when you walk into a courtroom and want to listen to your own heart and values, that means you're not following the law, which is what judges are supposed to do."
Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, whom the president is required to turn to for advice and consent on California judicial nominations, used bipartisan screening committees when Bush was president to find candidates acceptable to both parties. Their decisions to retain that bipartisan approach were aimed at avoiding confirmation conflicts.
"These committees are made up of highly regarded attorneys who know their legal communities well," Feinstein said in explaining her commitment to getting input from both major parties. "I am confident that the committee members will do their utmost to help me identify the most qualified candidates."
That should help limit Republican opposition to Obama's nominees "as long as people understand that the bipartisanship is going to be in the vetting, not the appointments," said Wheeler, the Brookings analyst. "I hope nobody's got their hopes up that Obama is going to be appointing 50% Republican judges."
Obama will put a premium on diversity, judicial analysts overwhelmingly predict. Of special concern to those who want to see more women and minorities on the federal bench is the Northern District of California, where all but three of the 14 judges are white and there are no Asian Americans or Latinos despite their significant populations in the region.
"I think that is an abysmal record. I can't say enough about how outrageous that is," said Niki Solis, president-elect of the San Francisco La Raza Lawyers Assn.
While Obama's campaign rallying cry for public service is expected to prompt civic-minded lawyers and legal scholars to apply for federal judgeships, some analysts worry that the best legal minds may be discouraged by the courts' noncompetitive salaries and crushing workloads.
Federal district judges earn $169,300 a year and circuit judges $179,500, both fractions of what a top lawyer can earn in private practice.
"I don't know that the prestige and even the interesting work can compensate for the financial sacrifices judges are being asked to make," said Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor who is now a professor at Loyola Law School.
A bill that died in the last Congress would have created 14 new appeals court judgeships and 50 for district benches. It has been revived in the current legislative session but faces an uphill battle amid demands for funding of jobs likely to stimulate the economy.
Court-watchers expect the bill to eventually pass due to the staggering case backlogs. The 9th Circuit, which includes California, is the slowest, taking 20 months on average to decide an appeal.
On April 14, 2009, the Hoborable Edmund Gerald "Jerry" Brown swore in former SF La Raza Lawyers Association board member, Gerardo Sandoval, as judge of the San Francisco Superior Court at the state building in San Francisco California. It was a well attended event of community organizers, judges of the superior court and political dignitaries. Congratulations to Judge Sandoval for a successful campaign and election to the SF Superior Court Bench."