Breaking in
Subtitle: the rise of Sonia Sotomayor and the politics of justice
By: Joan Biskupic
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 274
ISBN-13: 9780374298746; 9780374712419
Subjects: Judges; BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Lawyers & Judges; Women judges; Hispanic American judges; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Ethnic Studies / Hispanic American Studies; Biography; LAW / Legal History
Description: "From a leading judicial biographer comes the untold story of Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina Supreme Court justice. To become the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice, Sonia Sotomayor went against the odds. Her historic appointment in 2009--made by President Obama, whose own 2008 victory appeared improbable--flowed from cultural and political changes in America that helped lift up this daughter of a Puerto Rican nurse and a factory worker. Sotomayor saw opportunities and, with street smarts and savvy, she seized them. In Breaking In, journalist Joan Biskupic weaves a political narrative centered on Sotomayor's fortuitous timing and personal striving. From housing projects in the Bronx to Princeton University and Yale Law School, Sotomayor's life tracked the ascent of Latinos in America. Along the way, she elicited admiration and, as a self-described "affirmative action baby," resentment. At every step in her climb to the federal bench, she almost did not make it. As Biskupic reveals with extensive research and reporting, Sotomayor developed the connections to navigate a system known for ravaging nominees, especially when race or ethnicity was an element. Obtaining close access to Sotomayor and interviews with the other justices, Biskupic shows how Sotomayor challenges an institution where justices, as a group, have been relatively bland and socially conforming even as they differ radically on the law. In a book that picks up where Sotomayor's bestselling memoir left off, Biskupic explores the difference this justice is making"--
Notes: "Sarah Crichton books."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 253-256) and index.
Table of contents: title: Life of the party; title: "Life is all right in America ... if you're all white in America"; title: "I am the perfect Affirmative Action baby"; title: Chance and connections; title: A President and politics; title: The right Hispanic; title: The wise Latina; title: Race and the Ricci case; title: The President's choice; title: Standing out; title: Equality and identity; title: Her divided world.