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Supreme Court · Associate Justice

Sonia Sotomayor

Democratic appointee: Appointed by Barack Obama (D)

Served 2009–present · 16 terms

Confirmed 68–31

Biography

Sonia Maria Sotomayor is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was nominated by President Barack Obama on May 26, 2009, and has served since August 8, 2009. She is the third woman U.S. Supreme Court justice.

Source: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Ideology over time

Sotomayor and the 13 justices who overlapped with Sotomayor, 2009–present

−6−4−20+2+4201020152020More conservativeMore liberalThomasAlitoGorsuchKavanaughBarrettJ. RobertsKaganBreyerK. JacksonGinsburgSotomayor
  • Sonia Sotomayor
  • 95% credible interval
  • Peer, appointed by a Democrat
  • Peer, appointed by a Republican
  • Court median
How to read this

Martin–Quinn scores place each justice on a single liberal–conservative dimension, estimated from their votes across terms, with scores allowed to shift from one term to the next. Higher is more conservative. The shaded band is the credible interval: wider when the record is thin, especially in a justice’s first terms, and narrower as votes accumulate.

Where Sotomayor sits among all justices

Career average, every justice in the data set

−4−20+2+4−4.19−1.63

Sotomayor’s range across terms

Served alongside Sotomayor

13 justices

Closest career average first. Filled dot: the peer. Ring: Sotomayor.

JusticeTogetherCareer avg
Ketanji Jackson2022–2024career average −2.62 versus Sotomayor at −3.27John Stevens2009career average −1.81 versus Sotomayor at −3.27Ruth Ginsburg2009–2019career average −1.76 versus Sotomayor at −3.27Elena Kagan2010–2024career average −1.74 versus Sotomayor at −3.27Stephen Breyer2009–2021career average −1.32 versus Sotomayor at −3.27Brett Kavanaugh2018–2024career average 0.56 versus Sotomayor at −3.27Anthony Kennedy2009–2017career average 0.68 versus Sotomayor at −3.27Amy Barrett2020–2024career average 0.77 versus Sotomayor at −3.27John Roberts2009–2024career average 0.81 versus Sotomayor at −3.27Neil Gorsuch2016–2024career average 1.04 versus Sotomayor at −3.27Samuel Alito2009–2024career average 2.00 versus Sotomayor at −3.27Antonin Scalia2009–2015career average 2.50 versus Sotomayor at −3.27Clarence Thomas2009–2024career average 3.40 versus Sotomayor at −3.27

How Sotomayor voted

Every argued case Sotomayor took part in, newest first, with how Sotomayor voted in each: with the majority, in dissent, or in an equally divided Court. A Liberal or Conservative tag is the Supreme Court Database’s coding of who prevailed in the case, not a rating of the justices.

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    Data notes

    The Decisions page’s argued cases with this justice’s vote from the Supreme Court Database. “Majority” includes a concurrence; a vote that dissented in part is coded by the side the justice took overall. Cases the justice sat out and equally divided cases are left out of the percentages. “Wrote” means authored an opinion. Source: Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.).

    Report a correction

    Scores: Martin, Andrew D. and Kevin M. Quinn. 2002. “Dynamic Ideal Point Estimation via Markov Chain Monte Carlo for the U.S. Supreme Court, 1953–1999.” Political Analysis 10:134–153, from mqscores.wustl.edu. Appointment data: Federal Judicial Center biographical directory. Biographies: Wikipedia, text abridged, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Portraits: public-domain images via Wikimedia Commons.