2009 seems to be the year for rewriting the history books in the United States. For starters, it was the swearing in of the nation’s first African American president Barack Obama and now the appointment of the first Hispanic American Supreme court justice. Judge Sonia Sotomayor was approved yesterday by the Senate in a 68-31 vote to become the country’s 111th justice- making her the third woman in history to ever receive that honor. President Obama even went on to say the event is “breaking another barrier and moving us yet another step closer to a more perfect union.” Perfect or not, many doors are now open which were once closed and thought unattainable by any means (take advantage, people!)

Sonia Sotomayor is of Puerto Rican decent and grew up in a housing project in the South Bronx. The 55 year-old went on to study at Princeton University and eventually received her judiciary degree from Yale Law School. Since then, she has held a variety of legal positions around NYC such as assistant district attorney for New York county and serving as a judge for the Southern district of the U.S. District Court. Throughout her entire career, Sotomayor has managed to remain very active in the NY legal system by also serving the board of many notable committees such as the State of NY Mortgage Agency and the NYC Campaign Finance Board.

Despite Sotomayors’s undeniable track record as a confident and well-qualified judiciary figure, she did not rise to her position as a justice without some opposition. Although she received unanimous backing from Democrats, Republicans feel that Sotomayor has a hidden liberal and personal agenda that she will use in her rulings. Senator and Republican Jeff Sessions from Alabama stated, “[Sotomayor] has bluntly advocated a judicial philosophy where judges ground their decisions not in the objective rule of law, but in the subjective realm of personal ‘opinions, sympathies and prejudices.” The bottom line? A very serious beef between Repubicans and Democrats in which the foundations of the court’s philosophical structure is questioned. And with Obama in office, many changes are likely.

Regardless of any oppositions on either side, the fact remains that Sonia Sotomayor will be sworn in as a justice for the Supreme Court by Chief Justice John Roberts this Saturday. With so many minorities rising to powerful and influential positions all over the country as well as the world, is it safe to say that minorities are finally getting the reverence they deserve? Hopefully, the answer to that will be revealed as President Obama’s vision of unity unfolds during his stay in the Oval office. Until then, congrats are definitely in order for Ms.- I mean, Chief Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

-Rachel McCain