Supreme Court nominee is Catholic grad

Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama's pick to replace Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court, is a graduate of Cardinal Spellman High School in the Bronx. If she is appointed, Sotomayor, 54, will become the first Hispanic to serve on the court and the third woman. Checking her record on abortion brings up almost nothing. Here's one small snippet from The New York Times:

"On the Circuit Court, Judge Sotomayor has been involved in few controversial issues like abortion. In one case, she denied a claim brought by an abortion rights group challenging a Bush policy that prohibited foreign organizations that receive foreign funds from performing or supporting abortions. Another case concerned the definition of "refugee," which includes victims of coercive family-planning practices. The Second Circuit ruled that this definition does not extend to unmarried partners of women forced to abort their pregnancies. Judge Sotomayor joined a concurring opinion which said it was unnecessary to consider whether the definition extended to legal spouses, because this particular case dealt with Chinese men and their girlfriends, not their wives."

Sotomayor, who is currently a judge on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, was appointed to Manhattan Federal Court in 1992 by President George H. W. Bush. She was later elevated to her present position by President Bill Clinton in 1998. Although she is seen as "liberal-leaning," her moderate liberal position seems to give her bipartisan support. She has been quoted, however, as saying that it is in the courts where "policy is made," making her less of a favorite among conservatives who oppose activist judges.