In the months and years to come, the decisions Justice Sonia Sotomayor helps render as a member of the U.S. Supreme Court will play a role in shaping our society.
However, before even issuing her first opinion, the significance of Sotomayor’s appointment to the court was celebrated across the country. Her place on the bench marks a national milestone, but it especially resonates with young Hispanic women studying law and the “wise Latina” professors helping to prepare the next generation.
Today marks the beginning of a new term for the Supreme Court. For many female Hispanic lawyers and aspiring lawyers, it represents a new era regarding their place in the legal profession.
“The first thing that came to me when Sotomayor was nominated and was going to be a Supreme Court justice was that the image of Latinas was going to change,” said Monica Guzman, a second-year law student at Santa Clara University. “The words that were associated with what being a Latina was were going to be different.”
