Sonia Sotomayor, the federal judge on the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, is considered by many to be among the top choices to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter.
Sotomayor is a native New Yorker, growing up in a housing project in the Bronx just a short walk from Yankee Stadium. She is only the second woman and second Puerto Rican to be appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals.
Sotomayor was nominated on November 27, 1991, by President George H. W. Bush and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 11, 1992.
Sotomayor is a die-hard Yankees fan and has handed down important decisions effecting sports related cases over the course of her 17 years on the federal bench.
On March 30, 1995, she issued the preliminary injunction against Major League Baseball, preventing the owners from unilaterally implementing a new collective bargaining agreement and using replacement players, thus ending the 1994 baseball strike.
The eight-month long strike was the longest work stoppage in professional sports history, and led to the cancellation of the World Series for the first time in 90 years.
Sotomayor was also the author of the Clarett v. NFL opinion that rejected the District Court’s finding in favor of former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett and essentially approved the NFL’s age restriction rule in connection with the NFL draft.
In reversing the lower court’s finding in favor of Clarett, Sotomayor held that the NFL’s eligibility rules were protected from antitrust attack by the nonstatutory labor exemption.
As a result of her decision, both Clarett and former Southern California wide receiver Mike Williams were prohibited from entering the NFL draft early.
Should President Obama select Sotomayor to replace Souter, he will have selected someone who’s had a significant impact on sports related legal issues.
This could be an eventual addition that will allow the government to step in and have an impact on a playoff system in college football. The government involvement in professional sports has grown exponentially over the last decade, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they try to latch onto the last healthy business in the country.
@YouGabSports — well, Obama does seem like the type of President who takes an interest in sports and their structure enough to actually get involved, so this is a good point.
@MoonDog — great article. There is too much fluff getting around in blogs these days (I’m as guilty of this as anyone), so it’s always great to see a post of substance.
Yeah, but MoonDog, where does she stand on granting right to a hearing in Federal Court for homosexual humpback whales detained at Gitmo who are seeking a partial-birth abortion and to use medicinal marijuana?
These are the issues that I want to know about.