Sotomayor Details Finances, Key Cases

[question everything]

JUNE 5, 2009

Sotomayor Details Finances, Key Cases

By JONATHAN WEISMAN
WSJ

WASHINGTON -- Seventeen years on the federal bench have left Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor with about $32,000 in the bank, nearly $16,000 in credit-card debt and an additional $15,000 in outstanding dental bills, according to documents filed with the Senate Thursday. Nine days after her nomination, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals judge sent the Senate Judiciary Committee a 172-page response to a committee questionnaire, along with a 129-page appendix, detailing her education and employment history, her legal work and judicial opinions, her financial worth and the Supreme Court selection process.

Asked to name the 10 most significant cases over which she presided, Judge Sotomayor chose high-profile sports issues and tough-on-crime decisions. The first case she chose was her 1995 preliminary injunction that ended the Major League Baseball strike. No. 2 was her rejection of a lower-court ruling allowing Ohio State University running back Maurice Clarett to buck the National Football League's age restriction and enter the draft early.

She also highlighted her views on freedom of speech. In one case, she struck down a gag order on the press covering the prosecution of Frank Quattrone of Credit Suisse First Boston, saying the quest for an orderly trial did not outweigh the First Amendment. In another, she ruled against a paroled child sex offender who said he should be allowed to possess pornographic material. The questionnaire also sought the 10 most significant matters Judge Sotomayor litigated as a prosecutor and lawyer in private practice. She mentioned her 1983 prosecution of a child pornographer and her case against "the Tarzan Murderer," who "acrobatically" jumped rooftops and climbed buildings to rob and kill.

Judge Sotomayor's relatively modest financial worth comes after 17 years on the federal bench. She earns about $170,000 a year, plus about $26,000 in teaching compensation. Before her 1992 appointment to the U.S. district court in New York, she was a partner at the corporate law firm Pavia & Harcourt, where she represented luxury-goods lines such as Fendi and Ferrari. The judge listed assets of $31,985 in cash, $1,017,500 in real estate and $108,918 in personal property, against $418,350 in liabilities, including $15,823 in credit-card debt and $15,000 in dental bills. Her residence in a Manhattan apartment building is valued at $997,500.

White House officials said one reason Judge Sotomayor didn't have more in savings was her generosity to family and friends, especially her mother. At Christmas, Judge Sotomayor buys gifts for more than 60 people as well as the custodial and lunchroom staff of the courthouse, a White House aide said. She had to stop throwing her traditional holiday party a few years ago after it grew too lavish for her to afford.

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Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A3