HomeMy Public PortalAbout2009 CC RES 09-075RESOLUTION NO. 09 -075
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CARSON, CALIFORNIA,
SUPPORTING THE NOMINATION OF HONORABLE SONIA SOTOMAYOR TO THE
U.S. SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
WHEREAS, the Honorable Sonia Sotomayor was born June 25, 1954, in New York City;
and
WHEREAS, she grew up in a public housing project in the Bronx and is of Puerto Rican
descent. Her father was a manual laborer who did not attend high school and who died when
Sotomayor was nine years old, a year after she was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. Her
mother, a nurse, supported Sotomayor's educational goals; and
WHEREAS, if Sotomayor joins the court, she will be the third woman ever to serve on
the Supreme Court, after O'Connor and Ginsburg, as well as the court's first justice of Hispanic
descent; and
WHEREAS, Sotomayor did her undergraduate work at Princeton, graduating summa cum
laude in 1976, and then went on to law school at Yale Law, where she was awarded her Juris
Doctor degree in 1979; and
WHEREAS, she then began her legal career working from 1979 -1984 as an assistant
District Attorney with the District Attorney's Office of New York County. In 1984, she took up
the private practice of law in New York City at the law firm of Pavia & Harcourt,r91 continuing in
private practice through 1992 when she joined the United States District Court for the Southern
District of New York; and
WHEREAS, on the recommendation of U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moniyhan,
Sotomayor was nominated by President George H.W. Bush on November 27, 1991, to a seat on
the Southern District of New York vacated by John Walker. Sotomayor was confirmed by the
U.S. Senate on August 11, 1992 with the unanimous consent of the Senate, receiving
commission on August 12, 1992. When she joined the court, she was its youngest judge; and
WHEREAS, Sotomayor left the Southern District of New York on October 13, 1998 due
to her appointment to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals; and,
WHEREAS, on the recommendation of U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moniyhan,
Sotomayor was nominated by President Bill Clinton on June 25, 1997 to a seat vacated by Daniel
Mahoney. Sotomayor was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on October 2, 1998 receiving her
commission on October 7, 1998; and
WHEREAS, on May 26, 2009, Barack Obama announced that he was nominating Judge
Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court of the United States; and
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Resolution No. 09 -075
Page 2 of 2
WHEREAS, the Senate Judiciary Committee will begin its series of confirmation
hearings on Sonia Sotomayor on July 13, 2009.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the city of Carson, California recognizes the
President Barack Obama's nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court.
PASSED, APPROVED and ADOPTED this 7th day of July, 2009.
ATTEST:
City Clerk Helen S. wagoe 1
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES
CITY OF CARSON
) ss.
Mayor Jim Dear
I, Helen S. Kawagoe, City Clerk of the City of Carson, California, do hereby certify that the
whole number of members of the City Council is five; that the foregoing resolution, being
Resolution No. 09 -075 was duly and regularly adopted by said Council at a regular meeting duly
and regularly held on the 7th day of July, 2009, and that the same was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSTAIN:
ABSENT:
COUNCIL MEMBERS:
COUNCIL MEMBERS:
COUNCIL MEMBERS:
COUNCIL MEMBERS:
Mayor Dear, Davis - Holmes, Santarina, Gipson and Ruiz -Raber
None
None
None
City Clerk Helen S. Kabvagoe 7