With my academic achievement in high school I was accepted rather readily at Princeton and equally as fast at Yale, but my test scores were not comparable to that of my classmates. And that's been shown by statistics, there are reasons for that - there are cultural biases built into testing, and that was one of the motivations for the concept of affirmative action to try to balance out those effects.
Sonia SotomayorI had no need to apologize that the look-wider, search-more affirmative action that Princeton and Yale practiced had opened doors for me. That was its purpose: to create the conditions whereby students from disadvantaged backgrounds could be brought to the starting line of a race many were unaware was even being run.
Sonia SotomayorI think being a Catholic made me a better person. It taught me how to choose good over evil, and how to be a more caring human being.
Sonia SotomayorPeople who live in difficult circumstances need to know that happy endings are possible. Page 1.
Sonia SotomayorWe have to look and ensure that we're paying attention to what we're doing, so that we don't reflexively institute processes and procedures that exclude people without thought.
Sonia Sotomayor