Sonia Sotomayor

The nation’s first Hispanic U.S. Supreme Court justice ended her first year voting mostly with liberals–siding with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg more than any other justice. Her first major opinion was to dissent in the court’s ruling on a Miranda rights case; the majority determined a man who remained silent for two hours of questioning waived his right to remain silent when he answered “yes” to a detective asking if he had prayed to God for forgiveness for a murder. Her family ties to Puerto Rico, where she visits family regularly, and to New York, where she grew up in public housing in the South Bronx and now keeps an apartment in Greenwich Village, are strong.