“Further than I ever dreamed”: Sotomayor ’76 returns for 50th reunion

A conversation between Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Sonia Sotomayor ’76 and former ABC news anchor Melanie Lawson ’76 featured prominently in their class’ 50th reunion activities. The hour-long conversation took place in McCarter Theatre on May 22, with approximately 1000 alumni attendees across class years.

Appointed to the Supreme Court by former President Barack Obama in 2009, Sotomayor remains one of the University’s most renowned alumni. She visited campus as recently as last year for the renaming of 36 University Place in her honor.

“There’s a number of CEOs in here, titans of business, financial wizards, scientists, engineers,” Lawson began, suggesting successful peers such as former CEO of Google Eric Schmidt ’76. “But there was one person from the Great Class of ’76 we all bragged about.”

Sotomayor received various rounds of applause throughout the hour as she spoke about her time in and out of Princeton.

“The person you see today is not the person many of you remember from back then,” she told her class. Opening up about struggles as she had done in her 2013 memoir “My Beloved World” was not something she had valued in her undergraduate years, she added.

Lawson drew heavily from “My Beloved World” as she moderated the conversation, discussing the justice’s childhood in the Bronx, her experience with diabetes, and her dedication to service since her time at Princeton.

“You said you really didn’t know what you were doing … but you ended up getting into everywhere you applied to — Harvard, Yale, Columbia,” Lawson noted. “Why did you choose Princeton?”

Sotomayor described the feeling of alienation when visiting other schools, remembering a particularly intimidating interviewer. “I went to Harvard. It’s the only time that I’ve ever run away.”

Though she still felt “different” when arriving at Princeton as a woman of color, Sotomayor highlighted the Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding as a place that became her home on campus. “It’s what anchored me here, gave me a sense that I could find a place to belong,” she said.

Sotomayor became the third woman to join the Court, after being part of Princeton’s fourth class year to include women who had matriculated as first-years.

She also acknowledged that it took time “to adjust to the demands of Princeton” academically. “I worked by setting small goals: I wanted to get one A and three Bs my second semester, and that’s what I did. My [third semester] I wanted two As and two Bs, and that’s what I did, and my fourth I wanted three As and one B, and that’s what I got, and then I got straight As.”

As a senior, Sotomayor won the Pyne Prize, the highest general distinction for an undergraduate. She had not even known about the award until she was announced as a recipient.

Her nomination to the Court was similarly unexpected — upon receiving the call from Obama that she was his choice as nominee, she said, “I didn’t believe it … the tears started coming down my eyes.”

“I said to him, ‘Mr. President, I’m crying,’ and he said, ‘Judge, you don’t have to cry. I’ve put together the most fabulous team to get you confirmed,” Sotomayor recounted.

She remarked on the relationship among the justices, specifically addressing issues of partisanship in America today.

“Clarence Thomas and I are justices who disagree the most on the court … and yet I think the world of him as a person,” she said. “There’s good in every one of my colleagues. We all believe in the Constitution, we all believe in our system of government. We all care deeply about this country.”

“The fact that they’re misguided doesn’t mean they’re bad people,” Sotomayor added. She did not specify any justices other than Thomas, but the Court is known to be one of the most polarized in American history, with Sotomayor on the liberal extreme.

Lawson pointed out that some detractors have told Sotomayor, “You only got [into Princeton] because you’re Puerto Rican.” Jokingly, Lawson went on, “Where are those people now? … You have proven by miles and miles just what it looks like to be a spectacular graduate of Princeton University.”

Sotomayor noted that she “didn’t know what the Supreme Court was growing up.”

“Being a Supreme Court justice just wasn’t within the realm of even thinking about, because you can’t aspire to what you don’t know,” she told the audience. “I may be one of the few people — and I hope this is true for a lot of you — who has lived further than I ever dreamed.”

Haeon Lee is the associate News editor for the ‘Prince’ leading research coverage. She is from Brooklyn, N.Y. and often covers campus research and academic departments. She can be reached at hl1389[at]princeton.edu.

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