"Del barrio al Tribunal Supremo." (Translation: "From the 'hood to the Supreme Court") "¡Bravo, Sonia!" These were today's headlines from two of the major local papers here on the island. In case you haven't heard, President Obama has nominated Sonia Sotomayor, an appeals court judge in New York, to the U.S Supreme Court. Puerto Ricans are ecstatic! El Nuevo Día, the island's main paper, over five articles about Judge Sotomayor can be found in today's paper alone. Relatives on the island have been interviewed, Sotomayor's bank account balances have been published, and of course, her Horatio Alger life story. 
I find it refreshing to finally have a Puertoriqueña with intellect to gain so much media attention here. Normally, beauty queens and swimsuit models are the subject of interest on the island, to my chagrin. Puerto Ricans are definitely proud of Sotomayor, whom many consider to be just a liberal replacing a liberal (Judge David Souter). However, she has ruled against an abortion-rights organization in the past, and so I wouldn't be too quick to put her in the liberal category.“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," Judge Sotomayor once said. Obviously, one's life experiences, ideologies, and beliefs do naturally affect the decisions one makes, and I do hope Judge Sotomayor will provide the court with another point of view to reflect the growing diversity of the U.S.
(FYI: "Loca por Sonia!" translates to "Crazy About Sonia!")
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