Puerto Rico Secretary Of State Hails Selection Of US Supreme Court Judge

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Puerto Rico’s Secretary of State, Kenneth McClintock, described President Barack Obama’s nomination of Associate Justice-designate Sonia Sotomayor as “a historic moment 111 years in the making.”

McClintock, who exercises the role of lieutenant governor in the United States’ largest territory, said that “the American flag has flown over Puerto Rico for 111 years, and Puerto Ricans have been American citizens for 102 years, but never had our nation’s Supreme Court seen a Puerto Rican rise beyond a clerkship in that institution. President Obama has cracked that glass ceiling for us as well as all 50 million Hispanics, our nation’s largest minority.”

“Puerto Ricans have been underrepresented during the past 111 years in our nation’s Cabinet, the Congress, the Judiciary and ambassadorships. President Obama’s decision to nominate Judge Sotomayor will serve as a reminder that Puerto Rico is a United States territory, that Puerto Ricans are American citizens, and that they number over 8 million – half living in Puerto Rico and half, including our newest Associate Justice-designate, living in the 50 states.”

“Once confirmed, Sonia Sotomayor will join the ranks of Louis Brandeis, Thurgood Marshall and Sandra Day O’Connor, whose nominations paved the way for other demographic groups and help make the United States the more inclusive nation it is today”, Secretary McClintock remarked minutes after the President confirmed that he is sending Sotomayor’s nomination to the United States Senate.

Justice Brandeis, appointed by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916, was the first Jew on the court. Justice Marshall was the first African-American when appointed by President Lyndon B Johnson in 1967 and O’Connor, appointed by President Ronald. W. Reagan in 1981, was the first female Justice. If confirmed, Appellate Court Judge Sotomayor will be the first Hispanic, and the third woman to serve on the High Court.

A member of the Democratic National Committee for the past nine years, McClintock was one of many Puerto Rican government officials who supported Sotomayor’s nomination. Puerto Rico’s sole member of the U S Congress, Pedro Pierlusi, as well as the Puerto Rican Senate, presided by Thomas Rivera-Schatz, were also actively supporting the nomination.