Princeton University’s 36 University Place building will now be known as Sonia Sotomayor Hall in honor of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
The university announced on March 11 the renaming of 36 University Place building after the Princeton graduate who is from the Class of 1976. She is an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court and the first Hispanic justice on the high court.
“As a trailblazing student, a loyal alumnus, a University trustee, and an extraordinary jurist, Justice Sotomayor has lived Princeton’s values fully and beautifully,” President Christopher Eisgruber said.
“I’m delighted that her name will grace our campus and inspire generations of students now and in the future.”
The university noted that programs supporting low-income, first-generation college, transfer and veteran students happen at 36 University Place.
Within the building, there is the Emma Bloomberg Center for Access and Opportunity, the Center for Career Development, and the undergraduate Admission Information Center.
Not only will the university rename the building Sonia Sotomayor Hall, but they plan to also have a portrait of Justice Sonia Sotomayor added to the university’s permanent art collection.
“Sonia Sotomayor Hall houses programs at the heart of Princeton’s ongoing commitment to attract exceptional students from all backgrounds and help them flourish as members of this campus community.
“I could not imagine a better namesake for this building than Justice Sotomayor, and I was thrilled when the Council of the Princeton University Community’s Committee on Naming recommended her for this honor,” Eisgruber said.
Sotomayor was nominated for the U.S. Supreme Court by President Barack Obama in 2009. In August 2009, the United States Senate confirmed her to a seat on the court, 68-31.
She not only became the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice, but at the time Sotomayor was sworn in she was only the third female to serve on the court.
Born in the Bronx, N.Y., Sotomayor went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University in 1976. She graduated summa cum laude from the university and earned the Pyne Prize, the university’s highest academic distinction for an undergraduate.
After Princeton, Sotomayor earned her law degree from Yale Law School, where she would also become the editor of the Yale Law Journal.
Before being sworn in as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, she served 11 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1998-2009. President Bill Clinton had nominated her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Additionally, she served in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York from 1992 to 1998 and had also served as an assistant district attorney in the New York County District Attorney’s Office.
