Obama's Court Choice Is Sotomayor

Updated from 8:58 a.m. EDT

President Obama on Tuesday nominated Judge Sonia Sotomayor to an upcoming vacancy on the Supreme Court.

Sotomayor, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit since 1998, would be the first Hispanic to serve on the Supreme Court. She would replace Justice David Souter, who last month announced his plans to retire at the end of the current court term. The president made the announcement at a White House press conference this morning.

Sotomayor was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by President George H.W. Bush in 1992. President Bill Clinton appointed her to the Court of Appeals in 1998. She was the first Hispanic woman to serve on that court.

In 1995, she issued an injunction against Major League Baseball owners that helped end the eight-month strike that led to the cancellation of the 1994 World Series, according to a White House briefing document.

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