Justice Sonia Sotomayor made history on August 8, 2009, when she became the first Latina on the United States Supreme Court. At the time of her appointment, she had a net worth of approximately $750,000, which has since increased to an estimated $5 million.
Her fame, which stems from her position on the Supreme Court, has allowed her to take advantage of several lucrative opportunities. These have included book deals worth $3.8 million since joining the bench, as well as hiring staff to help her manage her affairs. While questions have been raised about the ethics of how she has handled her staff, it is widely accepted that Supreme Court justices have far fewer ethical constraints than other government officials.
Sotomayor has also benefited greatly from the financial perks of her position. Thanks to her time on the Supreme Court, she has been given an incredibly generous pension. This pension ensures she will receive her current salary, which stands at $285,400, for the rest of her life, amounting to an estimated $2.3 million. While she has properties in both New York City and Washington, D.C., her pension accounts for nearly half her net worth.
By no means, however, was Sotomayor’s early life characterized by wealth and privilege. Born in the South Bronx in 1954, she grew up in public housing projects. Her father passed away when she was nine years old, leaving her mother to raise Sotomayor and her younger brother Celso. With her job as a practical nurse, Celina, Sotomayor’s mother, earned less than $5,000 a year.
Despite these circumstances, Sotomayor’s mother prioritized education, sending her daughter to Catholic schools throughout her childhood. Faced with the heavy burden of tuition fees, Celina believed discipline was principled to the success of a Catholic school education. Her perseverance would later prove fruitful, as Sotomayor learned to speak, read, and study in English fluently by the fifth grade. She graduated high school as valedictorian and was accepted into all four Ivy League institutions she applied to.
Following her time at Princeton, Sotomayor was granted a full scholarship to attend Yale Law School. While there, she served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal and secured a role as an assistant district attorney in Manhattan before graduating in 1979. While this position was prestigious, it did not pay as well as private practice, which Sotomayor found acceptable, believing that her personal success should not be solely determined by financial gain.
