Justice Sotomayor

As always you can go to the group's flickr page for more pictures.

A while back, I think it was my second or third week on the job, I got the chance to meet and get my picture taken with Justice Sotomayor. She was on the Hill to meet with some members.

The overall day was pretty exciting. After doing the normal intern duties during the morning, I was told that there was a press conference that Congresswoman Schakowsky was going to speak at on the Senate side and that I should head over. It turned out to include Senators Kerry and Boxer in addition to some other Representatives. It was a press conference to re-introduce the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA). If you're bored, see if you can spot me in this video (Hint: It's right at the end on the right side of the screen). After that, the communications director, who had come to the press conference asked me if I wanted to go try and catch a glimpse of Sotomayor. I wasn't sure exactly what he was talking about, but I figured my lunch could wait for a Supreme Court Justice. It turned out we were going to the Speaker's office where about 12-14 members were meeting the Justice. The Justice actually took me by surprise as she walked right past me off the elevator. Unfortunately, they were not letting staff into the meeting. So myself, the communications director and about 4 other staffers had to wait out in the hallway. After about 2o minutes, it turned out that the House was voting on PAYGO and the vote was getting a little close so all the members had to go vote. As they were filing out one of the members said that we were free to go in. In one of those things where you didn't have to tell me twice, I gladly went in.


Once we were in, it was only 4 other staffers, the communications director, the Justice, her security detail and myself. We weren't really sure what to do, and were just standing around for a little while. Justice Sotomayor was just sitting at the table, waiting for all the members to come back. I asked the communications director if it would be okay to go ask her for a picture. He liked the idea and started pushing me pretty hard, even after I started having second thoughts. I went to go ask, and a member from her security detail told me to wait until the end of the meeting. The communications director knew that this meant I probably wouldn't get a picture. So he told me to try again, so this time I just walked around the other end of the table and with nobody from her security detail on that side of the table, I was able to ask her for a picture.

I had a little talk with her, as she told me about how great an opportunity it was to be able to intern on the hill, and how she hopes her niece will one day get the opportunity.

After that we headed back to the office and the Congresswoman had to go to the floor for some more votes.