SUPREME COURT JUSTICE VISITS SAGE
Sonia Sotomayor made an appearance at Russell Sage College to speak with students
TROY, N.Y. >> The Schacht Fine Arts Center Theater on the Troy campus of The Sage Colleges was filled with many people interested in hearing from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
The Bronx native visited Russell Sage College Tuesday morning to answer questions from current Sage students about her life and her career as a judge. After taking many questions from pre-selected students, the college then presented Sotomayor with an Honorary Doctorate degree from The Sage Colleges.
The event was part of Sage’s ongoing celebration of its Centennial through academic year 2016-2017 and current students, alumni, faculty and staff, along with Board of Trustees members, were invited to the hour long event.
“I am sure that the memory of this day will last a life time for everyone in this room today,” said Sage President Susan Scrimshaw, as she welcomed the Supreme Court Justice to Russell Sage College in downtown Troy.
The first student asked Sotomayor, if she could go back and change anything from her life, would she and what would that be.
“Nothing,” Sotomayor responded. “I’m often asked a variant of this question, like would I do something again and I often think to myself we become our experiences, good and bad. They shape the person we are, they become the fabric of our understanding of others and our understanding of ourselves.”
The next question asked to Sotomayor by a student was how she felt when she found out she was being nominated to serve as a Supreme Court Justice.
“I was sure that President Obama wasn’t going to pick me,” said the Princeton University graduate Sotomayor. “There were lots of reasons as to why I thought he shouldn’t pick me including that I would be the fourth or fifth New Yorker on the bench, that I was from an Ivy League school and all of our bench is from Ivy League schools and that he should probably pick somebody from a different part of the country or perhaps someone with a different religion since I am Catholic. Many conservative groups also felt that I was too liberal.”
Sotomayor said that when she received the phone call from President Obama that she was being appointed to the bench by him, she said that she broke down crying afterwards. “I had the phone in my right hand and my heart was pounding so loud that I could hear it in my ears,” said Sotomayor. “President Obama then said ‘Judge Sotomayor, I’ve decided that I want you to be my nominee for the United States Supreme Court. Will you accept?,’ and I started to cry and you have to understand I’m a Bronx kid, I don’t cry, but the tears came out and the emotion was just so overwhelming because at that moment, I realized that I have lived my life far beyond anything that I ever dreamed of.” Sotomayor also spoke a little bit on the topic of how important after school programs are for children in any city. “When I am asked what we can do to change the lives of so many kids in our neighborhoods, I say keep them busy after school,” said Sotomayor. “That’s why I support all after-school programs. Anyone who succeeds it’s because someone cared about them.”