Justice. All youths feel a connection with her. Struggle every day, often people of color, feel that their dreams can be realized because of her. And respect given to my friend is palpable. Regardless of what is going on in her life, is always friendly, takes a photo with the to her. Ho comes up she gives it her all to everyone 24 7, 365 days a year. Who is she . Sotomayor . A i remember Sonia Sotomayor in law school. Out for a number of reasons. , principled,iant hardworking, determined, caring others, generous and full of life. School we lived in different cities had different jobs. And this being before email and internet lost touch. But our paths crossed again when considered for judicial appointment to the Southern District of new york by clinton and senator moynihan. I can well remember saying to said,r moynihan when he who is Sonia Sotomayor . , and i said, well, shes brilliant, principled, caringrking, determined, about others, generous, full of life, and will make an outstanding judge on the District Court. Beyond. I joined the 2nd circuit in 1999. On it beginning in 1998. Became close colleagues. If askedcond circuit how would i describe her, i would say, well, brilliant, principled, hardworking, determined, caring about others, of life. And full and now almost five years on the would say pretty much the same. As someone very proud to call sonia a close friend, i can heronally attest to extraordinary prowess and excellence on the bench. She is a judges judge, a lawyer. No one loves the law, its structure, its history, its she does. Ore than taking apart an argument, pulling apart the pieces, logic, tracing the precedent, connecting the case relatingnstitution, the issues to history and , satisfy her intellectually and i think emotionally. She does. What no one on the bench is more prepared than she is for oral argument. No one more eager than she is to aplore what is going on on case in the effort to get it right, to get that decision right. Thinking about Sonia Sotomayor, it is not just her professional dedication and excellence i admire. It is also her incredible to sosity as a friend many. She is a friend, as ive said, timesl seasons, in good and bad. I also admire her ability to encorporatelife, to lifes great incorporate lifes great pleasures be it restaurants, an expansive social life. Now, whether youre interested not, the justice history of her life cant help but interest you. Here today is the beneficiary, will be the extraordinaryf an gift. Is my beloved world, extraordinarily autographed by each of you. Think about that. 1,000 copies autographed by a busy Supreme Court justice. [applause] by the way, i know youre going to love that book so much. Youreee to you, but going to go out and buy some more copies. [laughter] in paperback for your siblings, your friends,. Our cousins i fully expect that of each of you. My beloved world is a book for the ages, attesting to the extraordinary life, an industrious life, of a highly trulylished and accomplished cosmopolitan lawyer and judge. Us, givesinspires hope to dream, to overcome obstacles to not give up, to islize the potential that within each of us no matter our life circumstance. My beloved world within days of being published was ranked number one on the bestseller where it lived for weeks and weeks. For us, her readers, my beloved beloved world. Ur and for many reasons, as we will explore, this compellingly readable, multilayered peopl mr isut an important judge already an american classic. Intice sotomayor and i share common a former clerk, eloise pasakoff, now a distinguished professor of law at Georgetown University law center. I first met eloise nearly a decade ago. Lawwas not only an amazing clerk with a penetrating mind, sharp analytical skills, and mature judgment. She was and is a wonderfully giving person. Career has been nothing , few betapectacular mpa fromm harvard, Kennedy School of government, harvard law school. She was in 2012, the steven s. Goldberg awardee for distinguished scholarship and a belovedlaw, already teacher. Her teaching and Research Interests include education, social welfare law and policy, administrative law, governance, regulation. I predict that if shes not a dean or a University President a judge, who knows, the skys the limit. Extraordinary. So when thinking about this eloise immediately came to mind. It is now my great honor and to present in the extraordinary eloise and my friend and my sister, the truly extraordinary associate justice Sonia Sotomayor. [applause] judge, forank you, that incredibly generous introduction. Hello, justice sotomayor. Hello, eloise. It is such a pleasure to be here today. I always love having you back. I dont think he mentioned that was my law clerk my first year as a Supreme Court justice. What we share in common, but we share a whole lot of other things in common. Ien he called me sister, called him my brother. And you can see why. More loyald have a and supportive friend than bobcatsman. Him all the time protocol in the federal system. You get to be chief judge by seniority. Was appointed before bob. Of in the normal course things, i would have been chief judge first and he would have followed me. So to speed up his appointment, he managed to get me appointed to the Supreme Court. [laughter] to startctually wanted by talking with you a little bit thet your first day on Supreme Court, which i was privileged to watch as one of year. W clerks your first so just to set the scene a little, the Senate Confirmed you a thursday. I recall i think you were sworn in over the weekend. Mmhmm. And monday morning, 9 00 a. M. , there you showed up for work. I did. But actually, it was earlier because i showed up and went to the gym first. Well. [laughter] as judge catsman says, she lives life. Has a good set of priorities. And i went to the gym, and i back. And sitting in the outer office law clerks was became atephen stevens who dear and very close friend in the year i served with him. The office. He welcomed me to the court. And i said to him, i had just the security guards that morning if you were in the courthouse and they told me you yet he said, i wanted to beat you to the office. In walkstalking, and sandra day oconnor. Understand,e to from the moment i had been nominated by the president on memorial day in that may, to me where iened had an outer body experience. For a year and a half it seemed watchingif i was myself go through these incredible things that were around me. It was almost as if i had to emotions or i my would become so overwhelmed that. Would be ineffective and this was yet again another momentshose continuing where two icons of mine in the me walked in to say hello to me. That was the start of my morni morning. Must understand, it is. Reathtaking i lived for a year and a half mying nobody woke me up from dream, that nobody would pinch me and that i would wake up and just a fantasy. My at was the story of that was the start of my day. What a start. Yeah. So i wanted to ask you about of my recollections of that first day as well. In addition to meeting all of the other justices who were in the building, you also made a point of going around and meeting all of the elevator operators. We went to the caff tearia, and youmade cafeteria, and made a point of meeting the workers. We had lunch. We did have lunch. Theme you going to tell they made me chair they made her chair of the cafeteria committee. Work. Es important yeah. And the following july the Washington Post did an evaluation of the government cafeterias in the city. And the Supreme Court cafeteria got an f. [laughter] gottenink it would have an fminus beforehand. At any rate, the chief sends next day because no. A kaghan had been elana kagan had been nominated. Said, sonia, youre fired. I wrote back and said, this was according to plan. [laughter] rate, yes, we did do that that day. I was overwhelmed by the building, by the way. It is a beautiful building. Areor those of you who coming to this university, if you dont take the time to come the Supreme Court and take a tour, youre doing yourself a disfavor. It is not only a beautiful building. An impressive historic building. And our tours will teach you so law and about the constitution and about our justicesss as concerning the role we play in constitution. So i encourage everybody. You can be asy students. I was one of them. I did very little exploring of lived in, but it is worthwhile to take advantage of coming to the court one day. Important. One of the things i took from with the justices, from meeting with the elevator operators and the folks in the cafeteria is that in addition to the majesty of the law, in the of, thatve just spoken the law is a Human Institution and that relationships matter. One of the things that i became struck with my very first day and it continued and continued to this day is how employees in the Supreme Court have been there either since the beginning of decades. Eers or for one of them that day came to visit me, the head of our historical society. Me, justice, i love this institution. Because i love this institution i will be your forever and i will guard you and your reputation and the my own reputation with life. That attitude sort of comes the building. But what youre asking is something a little bit different. That inuch understand by themselves. I often hear some people say, i own, nobody helped me. And i keep thinking inside of me just not true. It cant be and isnt true of runody because whether you a business or youre in an office or youre a Supreme Court got peopleuve working around you to support your effort. And if you dont take the time then youre that,. Orgetting that basic truth we dont work alone. You have to be grateful to those who help you. Thats in part what my book was about, was to talk to people about looking around their lives those who have participated in reaching where they are. Lets talk a little bit about that more. Theres a real theme in the book of mentors and the role of being open to mentors, working with mentors, but also about the role of taking ownership of your own learning and seeking opportunities to learn out. Wonderful story in the book about how you sought out your 5th grade classmates to ask her how to study. I wonder if you could tell us well, tell us that story. Its a great story. Then maybe tell us a little bit these themes see of working with mentors and taking charge of your own learning at the same time maybe a way that would be relevant for the folks in the audience. Book learn in the youll learn in the book that i started out in Grammar School as a not very good student. I attribute a great deal of that to the fact that i had started spanish beforeg english. And it wasnt until i got to actually began to. E taught english so rather four rocky years of of not quite understanding what was happening around me. And obviously my grades reflected that. Then my dad dies, and we had a prolonged period of time in. Hich my mom was depressed i fled to reading to be able to sadness in my home. That may, in some ways, have life because it gave me a window of another world. The time reading theour passport to universe. You can visit anyplace, not only the world but in the entire universe, just through books. Now, for most of you, youre doing it through television and , but theres still something very special and about using words in in your paint pictures head. Thats where i think creative comes from. So it was real important when i to paintng my book words. S of my world with and thats what i tried to do. I hope ive succeeded. Have. K i what i understood in that 5th grade class was i do have a nature. Ive i say in the book that mostly its competition with myself, a 5th grade teacher who did something a lot of now, which is do she would give you a gold star did well on an assignment. And i wanted to collect those stars. But i didnt know how to study. Was trying to figure it out, and i couldnt because if i wouldown how to do it, i have done it. Ok . [laughter] realized in part it came intuitively, but i understood that there was something i was doing wrong or not doing right, as the case may be. Other kidsere were who knew how to do it. Friend, donna shes still a friend now and you study . How do i think she was a little shocked me and said, you dont know how to study . No. Said, how do you do it . She explained her method. I went home and tried it. Pretty wellat i did in school. And obviously over time i out my own shortcuts, my. Wn ways to do things im often asked whats the greatest obstacle in your life. Whats the greatest obstacle to success . I tell them its the fear of embarrassed, of not asking help when you dont know something. Sure youlawyers im saw it in the year that you were and me on the Supreme Court i know ive seen it in my 20plus years as a judge in my courts. T you ask them a question, they dont know the answer. And instead of saying i dont know the answer, they blunderbust and try to make something up. Then theyre skewered by the judges. Ok . Its not much fun. But they seem to fear more the theng i dont know, embarrassment of that, than the inarrassment of failure finding the right answer. Understood for me, i very, very ear early on that asg help is the most important thing to do. Finding mentors is about. For me, who should be your mentor . Someone who can do something you. Ant do and someone who can do something you cant do and knows how to do well so that you can learn from them, so you can take from their experience, their knowledge, and try to adopt it fill in a hole that you may have in your learning. Dephene a mentor define a mentor. Personrybody one doesnt have to do everything for you. A lot of people think that a only persono be the you go to to ask questions. Around in every part of your life and you try to out who is doing that thing that i would like to do knows how to do it, and what can i learn from them. Now, obviously when you pick a please pick somebody that you respect and like. Someone whose values, whose sense of integrity, whose sense of with people are things that you think are emulate. E to if you do that, youre likely to a person, a, who has a heart and, b, who will take to teach you. If you find somebody that you cant make a mentor of through your efforts, then they may not worth it. Not. More broadly as to why because i do think that people who have those qualities i spoke about integrity, a sense of rness, a sense of caring theyre people who if you work with them will give back to you. Perfectlyalues fit with another theme i wanted to ask you about which is the service. E of public theres many moments in the book, in your life, that youve had the opportunity either to seek out some important kind of Public Service or that somebody participate ino Public Service. So i wanted to just ask you to reflect a little bit about why how you sought those opportunities out and maybe what they taught you about yourself and the world. Theres nothing more boring me than living in my own head all the time. Seriously. In the i,nd your life think, i feel, i that becomes pretty born and ing pretty boring and very limiting because your by youf self is only fed and thats limited by you. By that i mean you can only becausemuch to yourself you need to feed yourself in able to ways to be create and give back in more meaningful ways. So i understood that from Public Service mostly when i got to to do awhere i began little bit of it and realized experience gave me so than i gave return, it, because it taught me about their needs, about the structure of society. Its weaknesses in helping people. In one of the First Community involved in in oflege, it came as a result reading in the local newspaper that a gentleman had been coming puerto rico and the plane had been diverted from a new airport to newark. Landed, newark, when it he became a little bit upset because he didnt understand was happening around him. The u. S. Asnk of being filled with bilingual remember, were talking about the 1970s where hispanic a sizeable population but it was not as sizeable as it is today. Bilingualism wasnt as welcome the back then as now. His agitation he became a little bit unruly and stepped in and took him to trenton psychiatric hospital. It took weeks for someone who understood spanish to interview him and to determine that he wasnt crazy but that what out topened and reach his family before he was released. Shook me. The idea this a group of hospital had no one to talk to in their own really bothered me. Latinont to the community on princetons campus and i asked them whether they in volunteering there once a week. We would take turns. Just go to talk to the people there. Holiday parties. We had gettogethers. Them, forgames with those who could participate, obviously. Just provided companio companionship. If we were treating them. We didnt have any capacity to do that. That experience actually better about not about but better understanding the world and trying to change it a step at a time. A lot of people think that the only change you can do thats is change that i do in the position i hold. Impressive sometimes when i get to write a really great opinion or when im in the really great opinion. [laughter] descent, its a little disappointing but even then ive been a voice in the conversation. Those big things impress a lot theeople, but theyre not things that matter to most people. Its those little things. Human companionship. Its the trying to make the you live in a little it better, a little bit happier happier. So thats what i think public is. Ice its the kind of Public Service that says to people, you dont a politician. You can work in almost any you want and make a difference in peoples lives by just giving some time and some. Ffort to that enterprise judge catsman mentioned dean trainer earlier. Know that dean here and as deanship,his prior has always believed that the law practicale some effect and that students who are in law school should be working that area so that its not. Lways theoretical you can remain theoretical. A lot. , do i do that ok . Thats what a lot of my job is about. But the other part of it is a human being and giving in those small circles around you. Im going to follow up on that so hence my first day of people in the cafeteria. Right. Right. Right. Right. So im going to ask you now a bit about your day job the contextsort of of the previous two judicial day jobs you held. I think when president obama nominated you, i think he well, you had 17, i think, years of judicial service, which i think he said any other justice had had in the past 100 years. Thats a lot of experience. So you are sort of uniquely a little bittalk differences in the kinds of work youve done at each of those levels. Maybe for the students here you could just talk a little bit your role as a District Court judge, role as a Circuit Court judge, and how those things contrast or compare with your current job. And maybe if theres anything miss about your work on the other two courts that would be also. Sting to hear joern new york. We know you miss new york. Horribly. Would beme court perfect if i could cut it out and put it in lower manhattan. [laughter] clapping. E are i actually miss all of my two jobs because each was very different and important in meaningful ways. Rina rodgeylleague, who once said work a district is controlled chaos but chaos nevertheless. Ok . Courtce of a district judge is like judges life is nonstop. From, every day, year youhatever days a work if not more, from one another. Activity to youre having hearings, but youre having multitude of hearings,kinds of whether theyre suppression hearings,discovery plea hearings. I could keep naming them. Typess a wide variety of of interactions that youre having with lawyers and different kinds of legal situations that youre dealing with. This is on top of sitting in on trials where a wide variety of procedures take place that are in and ofrent themselves picking the jury, working with lawyers on opening the presentation of evidence, the preparation of charges afterwards so that can tell the jury what its supposed to do, and then supervising the jurys deliberations. Constant se things are constantly taking you from one. Oint to another at the end of one activity to long, at theday end of my first year i once know why the brain is a muscle. This job has showed me how much stretch. There was so much new information my first year on the bench that i was absorbing that headache, i had ached. That theres a big difference. Continued for my five years on the bench on the court. T you do get to interact with the lawyers in the courtroom. Get to see a lot of human nature in terms of witnesses and talking about. But the job of a District Court record, to develop a get the evidence out, and then to rule on it. And ive often described their doing justice in the. Ndividual case theyve got two parties. They have to resolve that dispute according to the law. And so theyre worried basically their attention is focused on these two people who sit before them. Courtt on an appellate and youre no longer the master courtroom. You now have to share esponsibility with three people people. And things that were routine as a District Court judge now a conference. The first day that i had to confer with my colleagues about an extension on the number of pages that somebodys toef had to be, i thought myself im going to hate this job. It seemed like such a silly time. Of ok . It was a silly waste of time, but not institutionally. Because that collaborative making is what appellate work is about. The responsibility of thinking through whether a error ofrt has made an law. Process that takes some of the burden out of judging. Because when you can share your your analysis with two other people and when you convincing them that either youre right or theyre wrong or however you want to approach it or them convincing job. Its a very satisfying what Circuit Court judges are doing is more deciding justice the law. You see, Circuit Courts are law is forwhat the that circuit. Circuits in the United States. A number of states are divided circuits. He mine was three states. But the 9th circuit out in nine states. S and some three i think is the if im remembering correctly. But some have four or five or. Ix the circuits were divided to their historical entry into the union. Second circuit was actually the mother court. We take pride in claiming that were the first court, the First Circuit got started right us. R maybe on the same day, but we still call ourselves the mother court. Any rate, what youre trying errorss find the legal in the decision below. Youre trying to determine what you believe the dictated by precedent. So what happens when you get on the Supreme Court . If you didnt think you were master of the courtroom when you three people, when you have nothing, alone, to decideu have something with at least a people. , with five convincing five very independent, sometimes hardheaded myself include people is not an. Asy task easy task. But what youre doing on a Supreme Court is announcing what the law says in a case where necessarilyesnt control. Definition, the Supreme Court generally only takes, with few takes casesonly when theres a circuit split. Circuits means is that below among the 13 have answered as to what the is under the law. You should, i think that most judges, and certainly panels of three, are trying to do whats right under the the fact that theyve disagreed means that theres no answer. And what youre asking the is toe court to do. Rovide that clarity but that also means that the responsibility on us is enormous because our decisions generally that affect not the law of your circuit alone the country and sometimes of the world. The Supreme Court is where the Court Operating there is no clear answer in virtually every one of their cases. There is a real problem relying tell you what Supreme Court cases say. And i know we make it a little bit hard because when you pick beour opinions, they tend to long and they often have a lot of jargan. I encourage you, however, not to. Ely on the news as citizens read the opinions. When you do, and if you actually with an open mind, youll often come out saying seem right, how can that be . That can be because the becausenclear, precedents dont really settle that question. The wayhave to believe, i do, that this group of nine are each passionate about trying find the right answer. And even though we disagree as answer may be or may not be, we all are filled same passion. Being,how i can stand sometimes, on the losing end of a case. A more personal question your day job before i turn to the student questions. What has surprised you about the day job, working with the nine of cases that you get . Maybe well leave it at that. What surprised you . And five years in, are you doing Something Different now than you did when you started . Worrying more. Seriously. For 17oure a judge years you dont take your responsibilities lightly, but you do understand that youre word, that there are courts ahead of you. If youre on the District Court, theres an appellate court. Youre on the appellate court, you know theres a Supreme Court. Unclear cases comfort from of knowing that youre not the if youre wrong it. G, someone can fix when youre on that last, final court, you recognize that if you wrong, you are really notcting peoples lives if forever for a very, very long time. Long time for congress if it can at all, to statutory decisions we make that they think are wrong. And obviously if were wrong on our interpretation of what the means, then it that even longer to undo if at all. This jobe burden of and how much i feel it came as enormous surprise to me. Bad one, but i have. Ore restless nights in a way that i hope will not give you more restless nights, i have some student questions. Im going to turn to them now having been instructed that now is the moment to do so. Ok. Know who pointed that out. Whoever asked the question asks the question, would you please get up . If youre up there, with the uphts, i can barely see there, just say im here or Something Like that. Said, say yo. [laughter] i just like knowing whos asking the question. So i dont want to embarrass you, but please do stand up. Is frome first question maria mendoza. Hi. Hello. Now i feel silly reading her since shes there. But i will continue on as instructed. Hello. Her question was, whats the one advice you would tell your younger self as a female . Underlined. Confidence so much. I was afraid an awful lot. Lived to almost get to the age that i am if im because itss surprising me. And my friends know this. Im about to turn 60, and im shocked. Ok . [applause]. Ts a little disturbing because the problem is that inside myself, the image i have that 9yearold kid with the curls running down i endtreet in puerto rico my book with. Ok . Thats the image i still have of havingand the idea of grown to what they say is the new middle age is shocking me. Ok . But in this ive had a lot of opportunity to talk to a lot of women of all ages, older and younger. I know that for many of us, and a problem, we dont lives with the same selfconfidence that sometimes do. And i think part of that may be of societal gender treatment differences. Whatever the causes are, i think women are more afraid of taking chances. Youngerld talk to the sonia, i would spend a lot less of constant state job. Include doing this eloise can talk about it. Petrified. First year it takes zaps a lot of energy out of you. Have moments of it and probably will forever. That. Wish i could change as i said, embarrassment or the holds youbarrassment back. Lack of confidence may not hold you back but it certainly burdens you uunnecessarily. The question from josh. Josh, where are you . Ahh. Hello. Being here. R thank you. Thank you all for coming. I know ive taken you some of you or a lot of you from classes. So thanks. [laughter] ill, again, read joshs question. With a career in the law, particularly one which involved so much time on the bench, have setfound it appropriate to goals or are you weary of having agenda . Oh, im assuming from the question that youre talking about professional goals or justice. A josh . Hes shaking his head yes. Dont know if im afraid of having an agenda. Think that thats what motivates me against having goals. Motivates me is understanding that its not control, meaning we respond to cases as they come to that a lotoes happen of those cases are important but theythey come and how come, in what factual setting,. S not within our control and neither is are you going to have colleagues who are going to you. With and i think if youre a sensible you understand that although you might have confidence in what you think vision is and what the law be wrong. You might and you should take pause when disagreeing with you to think through carefully their things. Now, that doesnt mean that principle wont lead you to still disagree. Ive had already my fair share descents, but i do them because i think theres an it. Rtant reason to do but my point is that i dont think i do it from fear of agenda but more from recognition that my agenda best. T be the thats really dangerous to think answers. Have all the hard to growery teach to deal with each case on its own terms, and to understand each side of the arguments being presented so a decisionrender based on that set of facts, that issue, and not my idea of whats right or wrong. Dangerous thing in. Udging is playing god that, to me is the most dangerous thing. From e is a question bibi hi. [inaudible] you. Ank again, ill read her question. [laughter] well. I follow direction. Which aspects of your childhood been most salient in your legal career . You know something . I dont think that theres one anything yout of do in life that should take over who you are in your work or in life. Ersonal a meshson we become is of a whole bunch of different. Xperiences who i am as a judge is not sonia from the bronx. Ok . [laughter] it is being a prosecutor. Become a civil litigator. Its being a trial judge. Its being a court of appeals judge. It is all of those things that i about, about our functions,out how it about our place in. My all of that influences career and has influenced my career. Think, and i hope you may have gone through my book. Readf you didnt and you it, i wrote it so that people with take my life journey me, to understand how each stage life, what new me andandings it gave to, i hope, evoke in people as it reflections upon what they learned from each part their life. I talk in the book i start the book with describing when i was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes and the discipline and me. Rmination that it taught and that condition will be with me my entire life. Be. As been and will and that discipline and that determination have been with me. Nd will be but so has every other , whether its the sort of love that my grandmother understanding of family and loyalty to it that been a part might have my career inart of the sense, as the chief judge said, i make time for my family was taught and i that from my childhood. Influences you. Tell im very spanish. Cant you . I talk with my hands. Actually, i dont know if its only spanish. Its very mediterranean. [applause] heres a followup question chris, college 17. [laughter] hello, chris. So chris asks, what challenges have you faced reconciling your hispanic background with a traditionally angloamerican institution . Followup,sneaky which is, what do you read for he has got a sneaky followup. What do you read for pleasure . There has not been a lot of that. A lot of my reading has been legal reading. If you talk about the times i did pleasure reading, i love scifi. Is a perfectt escape from this world, ok . Lectures,all the lessons it does about human nature i just adore it. If it has dragons and elves and dwarves, i like it even more. I was a harry potter aficionado. [applause] i often think of myself walking to the Supreme Court when you come to see the building, you know what i mean. Lots of marble and lots of portraits, mostly of men. Except sandraomen day oconnor up on the walls. I would walk through on the weekends and hear my footsteps think, these, and paintings are going to talk to me. And, you know, it was a little bit scary. I will tell you my favorite story that first year. Day, and iork one was leaving to go to a meeting. I walked around the corner and i stopped. There was a stairwell there. I looked at the stairwell. Said, didround and i i turn the wrong way . All around, thinking, i am lost. How do i get to my office . I went back to my office, with my face in a total state of shock. I looked at my assistant, who had been justice souters assistant at the time. I said, shelley, i think i am going crazy. She said, justice, they took the wall down last night. [laughter] they had been doing construction in the building, and they had balls up in places i did not know were artificial balls, you know . So scifi is really important to me, ok . Anyway. But that is what i tend to read. Question, to your ,his is a line i say in my book about talking to hispanic students who share my background , and who find themselves going into institutions where they are not in the majority, or which are, as princeton was to me, completely alien environments. To talk about the need to find comfort in your own community, because i do not think that without the latino , who hadin princeton more similar backgrounds to me, that i would have felt at home there at all. I could not have stayed unless i found commonality somewhere. But i also understood that i was being given an opportunity to learn about a world i knew to learn about people who did things and came from places i knew nothing about. And that it was very, very important for me to use my community as an anchor, so i , but not asy away an anchor that did not let me reach out and fly away when i needed to. It had to be a removable anchor, up and down. It was important to me, when i be a part of every world i could be, to learn as much about other worlds as i could. And that is how i have navigated. I still do that, you know . Had continuing involvement with the communities i came from. I also am very and mashed i am in,in the world and i am navigating and by learning about it, but becoming part of it. From, but building bridges between the worlds. About, what my book is to show the wider world what my , but also to show them the commonalities we have. I cannot tell you how many people from vastly different backgrounds than my own have come to me to share stories about how similar something in their life was. ,ustice ginsburg read my book as most of us have yet to read , withng during the term small breaks at a time. She read it in chapters over a series of a few weeks. Every time she finished a section, she would come and tell me, share something about her life that is similar. Yet we have very, very different lives, and yet the same. I hope everybody who reads the book will experience that. Is what the book is about. Not to talk about our differences, but to talk about our commonalities. Marjae is a question from marta. Thank you. That on a card, and i was going to read it to you. She also wrote a big thank you. Question is, what do you think is the most significant barrier to female and latino leadership . It is a slightly different question. Not that i have not been asked that before. I am trying to think, what can i think that is. I think we are Getting Better at it. But we do not have one culture. We come from very, very Different Countries and backgrounds that the larger in the United States paints us with the same brush often does not mean that translates to us feeling like we are one group. We laugh. I was at dinner with some friends the other night, and we were talking about the differences in words that guatemalans, puerto ricans, dominicans, and mexicans use. Those were the people there. And we were having fun trying to figure out each others words. , butre having fun about it it is a reflection of the difference in our cultures. Communities,e, as going to understand that at least here in america, we have to create our commonality. We have to work toward understanding that that will give us greater strength. And once we do that, i think it will be easier for us to recognize leaders. That, wentil we do will not be able to speak with a common voice. Voice, by the way. I think that is a mistake. I do not think any ethnic group speaks in one voice. There are common issues we talk about. If we can do that, leaders will form. Here is the last student we have. I am going to ask them to pass up some more. There is water right now. Pass up some more questions. I think we are early. Pass up some more questions, you guys. [applause] i need ricky. Where is ricky . Did she leave . Pass up some more of those questions. I will ask the last question. From thomas. Stion people. This is what professors like it when you type your exams. Is, how hasstion your status as a minority giving you motivation and strength during your professional career . Thomas, where are you . Hello, thomas. Could you describe your experience . During your undergraduate career, how was your identity as a minority important in terms of integrating yourself . I think there are two different questions. Your first question, the one on know i use my and peoplesus lack of expectations of me to my advantage. And i still do that. Mean, you will read in my book about my being in law school and being asked by an interviewer whether i felt i had gotten into yale simply because i was a minority. It helped a little bit that i was summa cum laude Phi Beta Kappa from princeton. [applause] and that is what i told him. And i remember being in the courtroom as a District Court judge. Here i am, all of 38 years old. A young hispanic woman. Sitting in a courtroom with an had to have i know been practicing about 40 years. And he was treating me dismissively. , or id respond to that could do what i did. I kept asking him questions. And i kept asking him questions. Sudden, he who had been standing there, just side with a note of being exacerbated. All of a sudden, i asked him a question. I saw him turn around and looked up and look at me. , i hadzed he realized better be careful. I got his attention all right. Worry that much about what others expect of me. I try to worry about what i expect of myself. Sometimes, one others expect of me does bring me down. When i do that, i end up not liking myself. I realize i am setting the wrong standard. When i concentrate more on proving what i can do, i am a happier person. Is what can give you strength as a minority. To go through life living to the expectations of other people, but just working on advancing yourself. Every step you take to become a better student, to become a better professional, to educate yourself, both in terms of knowledge and skill that is what counts. I think that if you are a minority, where people are not having expect haitians of you having expectations of you, it is really satisfying to prove them wrong. You can take wellearned pride from that. The question you asked when you you were up was talking more about, what do you do when you are here, either to ore a ride in that identity way. Ove it in some and i do not think that is a helpful way to look at it all earlier, ixplained think it is more helpful to think about, how do i build bridges in this Larger Community . Abouto i do to learn more people and community who have lived different lives than me . And how do i share with them the life i have lived, recognizing that both have equal value . That, you will live in both worlds relatively comfortably. And occasionally still feel a stranger in both. At georgetown. If you come from the background i did, you are going to find that people in the communities you came from they are going to start treating you differently. That you are no longer going to be completely like them. You are going to be better educated. You are going to have more opportunity. In some ways, you are going to speed differently. These are not bad things. This is the reality of the opportunities you have been given. Mean you have to feel badly about those things. Accept them and give comfort to the people who love you, by reminding them you are there. The first year i was on the Supreme Court bench as you know, i got a lot of public attention. I went to my family holiday party, which my cousin miriam posts every year. I walked in and sat down. For about 10 minutes, everybody was silent, waiting for me to talk. Themt some point i said to , [speaking spanish]. [applause] what is wrong with you . Said, do not tell me you have fallen for the stories they are telling you out there. They started to laugh and started to do what they always do talk over each other, screaming each other. I guess they had come to the white house and seen the sworn in at the court. Had a reception at the white house. It is a little bit scary, scary for me. Imagine for my family, who had never visited washington. I had to take time to remind sonia. At sonia was still i saw two more questions passed up for me. Thanks. Ok. So, zaiyajawadi . Quick thank you for reading that. You are welcome. He asks, what are your thoughts on the retirement age for Supreme Court justices . You know something . As ai started my job judge, i was 38. And my assistant teresa, who is still with me, started with me. The the first week or so, other judicial assistance in assistant judicial assistants in the court took her out to lunch. She said, justice actually, she called me sonia. Sonia, i feel kind of stupid. Would you please tell me what senior status is . Assistantsf those new when their judge would take senior status to the year, month, week, and day. Senior status is when a judge can retire. And said,t her teresa, i am 38. We are far away from thinking about it. It is never going to come. I am now 60. It would be five years away. And now i have a job for life. Is a fewperson who years away from retiring and takes a job that is longer, but i did. I do not know the answer to that. I worked with john paul stevens, who retired at 90. Active, ander, more more insightful than any judge i have ever met at 90. And i was heartbroken when he left the bench. Me, when heto talked about his decision, that he wanted to leave on top, and not in his declining years. And that he still felt that he was on top, but that he feared that the turn might happen and he would not realize it. At 70. Souter retired when i asked him why, he said to me, because he had lived at a time when some justices who had stayed longer than they should have. So what is the answer . Rules,ot making fixed because fixed rules are very, very dangerous. They deprive you of the wisdom and the knowledge of people. Because of your fear that one or two people might stay a little longer than they should. We have a vibrant court of nine people. Is a little bit not quite at the top of their another eight that can hold on until they make their decision with big day. Belief the founders fromkeeping us immune political pressure by giving us life tenure has made our institution as strong as it is. I think that has value for our society. Sure that i think there is an actual age. The reality is that age tells you nothing about a persons capacity. It is more complex than age. Think this really is going to be the last question. I know i have probably run over a little bit. I do that all the time, and i am sorry. This question is from yvonne nandez. Hello. [speaking spanish] do you buildd, how consensus around an idea or a position . One at a time. [laughter] that is seriously. One at a time. It is not easy when you are working with a group of nine. It was much, much easier on the court of appeals. A group of three is more manageable. Each person can talk more, longer. And because there is a sense of each being so vital to the conversation that each engages more. When there is nine, there is sort of the Group Dynamic that smaller groups can support each other around ideas. And that makes it harder to be able to heal off one vote at a time, on occasion. Doing it one person at a time. Sort of talking and retalking. Cases, but we continue to talk after the voting in smaller groups. And our writings, as they get circulated, there is still conversation going on. There are still discussions with those people who have expressed doubts or expressed reservations about the votes they have cast. It is a dynamic that is ongoing. Frankly until the day the decision is issued. I should not say quite that day. You know when it is finalized . When we clear the decision for announcement. And that is usually the friday conference before the week of announcements. That is basically the end of the conversation. This has been an incredible conversation. Thein a minute, i know audience is going to join me in thanking you. I have been asked to do two more things before i bring the conversation to a close. The first thing is that if i read your name, or if your question was asked, please after the event is over, after you do get a chance to clap, which i know you want to, please come to the front row. The justice is going to come say hello. And the second thing i have an asked to do is to and take a picture. And take a picture. And the second thing i have been asked to do i know it kills you is to invite professor bailey on to the stage, chair of the government department, who is going to make a few closing remarks. I know we will all thank the justice with enthusiasm. Thank you. Being here and having this event makes me realize how good we have it here at georgetown. Not only do we get the chance to do the theory and the history and the analysis and so forth, but we really get a chance to see this on a personal level see the law, the justices, how it plays out, and the personal connections. That is not what everyone gets to do, so that is pretty neat. Not only do we have a good georgetown in general, we in this room have it good that we are getting books. I want to give you a couple notes on how we are going to do that. This set of folks is going to exit first. Is exiting,e else you will take your orange ticket , and in the main lobby, we will be distributing a book. You exchange the orange ticket for those books. And they have been generously and probably laboriously signed by justice sotomayor. That is pretty neat. I would also like to thank a lot of people to thank for this. They have been important in setting this up, and we appreciate that. The lecture fund, students giving for this. Friends ofte the margaret bernstein, who have made this possible. That when learned they set this symposium up, they basically bound judge cashman to this. And they had the foresight to say he would be involved in this whether or not he was at georgetown. They seemed to know what your future was even back then. That has been very fortunate for georgetown. Cashmananks to judge for all he has done. He is a huge, huge asset for georgetown and the government department. Thank you for really guiding a fun and stimulating event. Most of all, i am sure everyone joins me in thanking justice sotomayor. The event has been great. [applause] he stay in front. I and when to take a picture with you. Thank you, everyone, and have a good evening. Tonight, q and a with author william cohan, with his book about the duke lacrosse scandal in 2006. Then, a look at major events in British Parliament from the last few months. And bob author week on q a, and do alone duke alum, william cohan, discusses his new book the price of silence the duke lacrosse scandal, the power of the elite, and the corruption of our great universities. Author of thean, price of silence, what to the title mean . That her spent so much said and written about this case when it first happened. Some people think it is in an ironic title. I am told by the duke lacrosse scandal once known as the rape case. 2006, march 2006. It is still ongoing. That is another topic. At the time, it was the flight 370 at the time. Everybody was focused. When i went back to researching this and to study this and write about as a duke alum, i wanted to know what happened. There was never a trial and i wanted this book to be the trial that never happened. I was surprised at how few people wanted to talk about this. How few people were very happy with the out, that had been resolved by the attorney general of North Carolina who declared innocent which is a very unusual legal term usually in a court of law, somebody is declared not guilty or guilty. To thets is foreign legal profession. I wanted to know what happened here. I was shocked at how difficult it was to get people to talk including people at duke. When i spoke to dig brodhead him i wasead and told doing this, his first reaction is why . We are beyond this. Do not dredge it up again. We are talking about the price of silence and you said it could cost duke one hundred million dollars. Each of boyd, each of the three indicted layers got players got is in public or something you found out . One of the players had some publicity about this and received a tax bill from the irs which was written about in a detroit paper. If you do the arithmetic, you can get the idea he was taxed based on Something Like a 20 million payment and this has since been confirmed to me. , that iswas of course 60 million. There was a settlement with coach pressler who was fired. They had to resettle with him because he brought a libel suit against the university when they paid 20 million to each of the players. The rest of the players on the team, the nun and died a players also suited duke nonindicted. Layers also sued duke it was resolved in february of last year. They got cash and settlements. One lawsuit still remains among three of the players. One including Ryan Mcfadden who wrote the horrible email the the a huge controversy at time. Between legal fees and settlement fees and pr spin and legal investigation, basically 100 million. Give us, i know you do not specific words. Ryan mcfaddens email said what . He was one of the sophomores on the team. Thatf the players there was never in or near the bathroom never accused of anything. He was just doing the usual underage drinking that is so prevalent. After the party, he went back to his dorm and wrote an email thinking he was writing to his fellow players on the team thinking he was quoting and ellis novel, paraphrasing and ellis novel. Basically, he talked about wanting to reprice the party that they had, from, but this time he was going to essentially paraphrasing, kill the women instead of just treating them like they did this time and doing other things to them. It was a very unfortunate email , very vulgar email. A result of that email which he thought he had sent to his colleagues on the lacrosse team, this was march 2 thousand six, our knowledge of social media and how these things get around not quite as sophisticated as today, that email got to the police. Somebody from duke turn it over to the police they saw the email. It was about 10 days later after the incident. Basically, all hell broke loose. People were being given the benefit of the doubt until that point. Once the email was made public on april 5 after they search right mcfaddens room, the coach was fired, the season was counseled. Huge issue than it was. A couple of quick things. Where do you live now . New york city. What do you do . I am a fulltime writer. I graduate from duke in 1991. But who was the president there . A guy by the name of Terry Sanford who was a progressive governor from the state of North Carolina and a great leader and a great man and educator. I love the duke and i am a loyal alum. I did not do this to her to duke. Hurt duke. I did this to figure out what happened. There is a tremendous amount of passion about this story even to this day. All one has to do is go to 20zon and see ive amassed 51 star reviews. Even though it has not been out a week and is a 600 page book. I am sure many of them have not read the book. About goldmanas sachs and people have a lot of passion about that. This is in another realm. Durham, North Carolina is where . Triangle. In the center of the state near raleigh and chapel hill. It is called the triangle because Triangle Park is there. Very famous biotech and technology and Research Center and anchored by North Carolina. Tate, duke, and a unc a huge sports rivalry specially in basketball. How many students are there at the school . Duke has about 6000 undergraduates