Justice Sonia Sotomayor officially joined the U.S. Supreme Court in a special ceremony Tuesday attended by President Obama; Vice President Joe Biden; her mother, Celina, and brother, Juan; entertainer Ricky Martin, retired Justice David Souter, the man she replaced; members of Congress; federal judges and former top Justice Department officials. The nation’s first Hispanic and third woman to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court took the oath of office again during Tuesday’s event. Actually, the rest of the court does not return for real work until today, when the justices hear arguments in a case involving campaign finance law. Attorney General Eric Holder presented Sotomayor’s ivory-colored commission from Obama. Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath of office, after which Sotomayor took her seat at the end of the bench to Roberts’ left, next to Justice Stephen Breyer. All her colleagues were in attendance.

In the fourth day of her Senate confirmation hearing Thursday, Republican lawmakers tried painstakingly to rattle U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, seeking to squeeze from her anything that would reveal that she is the liberal, activist judge they say she is. No such luck. Sotomayor, whom President Obama and Democratic senators have painted as a cool-headed jurist whose long tenure as an appeals court judge proves her commitment to the Constitution, was unflinching. While acknowledging regret for her highly publicized comment that a “wise Latina” trumps a White male’s decision-making skills, Sotomayor vowed loyalty to the law and denied an agenda to create new ones. Most members of the GOP have conceded that her appointment to the high court is virtually unstoppable and have relinquished the notion of a Republican filibuster. Some conservative lawmakers, understanding that there is little reward in bashing the judge – many of them realizing that they risk alienating themselves from Latino voters in the general election – have even praised Sotomayor in recent days. For example, South Carolina’s Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican, who originally noted that the judge’s public comments prior to her nomination “bugs the hell out of me,” said Wednesday, “to be honest with you, your record as a judge has not been radical by any means. … “It is my belief that you are going to be a great Supreme Court justice.” California Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who has been laudatory of Sotomayor throughout the process, said Thursday, “I think you’re a walking, talking example of the best part of the United States of America.” Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), one of Sotomayor’s champions in the Senate, has said he plans to put her confirmation to a vote as early as next Tuesday.

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, repelling the notion that she is an activist judge who is interested in making law rather than upholding law, promised Monday to uphold the “impartiality of our justice system.” Her comments to the Senate Judiciary came after several conservative members of the panel expressed concerns that she is guided by race rather than blind justice. Some honed in on remarks she made more than eight years ago during a speech when she quipped that “a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences” is more qualified to rule on cases than a White male. Sotomayor, 55, the first Hispanic to be nominated to the nation’s highest court, has said that she should not be judged by those comments alone. “My personal and professional experiences help me to listen and understand, with the law always commanding the result in every case,” she said. Despite stinging criticisms launched at her by senators such as Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the ranking minority leader on the committee.  “I will not vote for, and no senator should vote for an individual nominated by any president who believes it is acceptable for a judge to allow their own personal background, gender, prejudices or sympathies to sway their decision,” Sessions said. But Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) seemed to hint that he was leaning toward voting for Sotomayor, saying that Obama had won the election and thus the right to nominate candidates for the high court. “Unless you have a complete meltdown, you’re going to get confirmed,” Graham told her. “And I don’t think you will.” Sotomayor, the daughter of Puerto Rican immigrants who was raised in the south Bronx, smiled. “I want to make one special note of thanks to my mother,” the nominee said. “I am here today because of her aspirations and sacrifices for my brother Juan and me.”

Photos: Go on Sonia Sotomayor’s Journey  from her Bronx, N.Y. childhood to her historic Supreme Court nomination.

 White firefighters in Connecticut were wrongly denied promotions because of their race, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday in its final session before summer recess. The 5-4 decision was deemed a major setback for minority advocates because it could affect places of employment across the nation. Adding to the profile of the case, the ruling nullified a decision that U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor had endorsed as an appeals court judge. The high court’s conservative majority found that the city of New Haven and the courts that agreed with its nixing of an exam on which Blacks disproportionately scored poorly had acted unconstitutionally. The city had contended that it discarded the test, used to promote firefighters, to avoid a lawsuit from Blacks, but Justice Anthony Kennedy, who delivered the majority opinion, said that New Haven’s action amounted to racial discrimination. “No individual should face workplace discrimination based on race,” Kennedy said. Although it does not eliminate the employers’ ability to consider diversity in hiring decisions, it does limit recruitment and retention practices. The ruling also could make it harder for people of color to prove discrimination based solely on racial hiring or promotions, experts say. The high court decision could not have come at a worse time for Sotomayor, who along with two appeals court colleagues, had ruled the city did the right thing in tossing out the test. The nominees’ critics now have something recent to use against her in the impending Senate confirmation hearings.

The head of the National Urban League Wednesday praised President Obama’s choice of Sonia Sotomayor to replace retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter.  The civil rights and social-justice organization said that the seriousness of the post meant that Obama had a responsibility to nominate a candidate with a history of protecting civil rights, particularly those of people of color. “Judge Sotomayor appears to be an eminently qualified judge with the intellectual heft, strong record and common touch that is needed in a Supreme Court justice,” Urban League President Marc Morial said in a statement. “We believe the President has made an outstanding choice. …[W]e have a unique responsibility to our constituents to carefully evaluate and influence important national issues, including nominations to the United States federal courts, which play a critical role in protecting the civil rights of African Americans.” He said that Sotomayor had demonstrated a “commitment to upholding civil rights, equality of opportunity and social justice,” and he urged the U.S. Senate to waste no time in confirming her. “We are pleased that the President took such great thought and care in this tremendously important appointment and sought the input of the National Urban League and many other diverse groups,” he added. “The result is the selection of a highly qualified nominee whom we believe will make an outstanding Supreme Court Justice.”

Rush Limbaugh took an intermission from bashing former Secretary of State Colin Powell Tuesday to focus his energies on President Obama’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. Sonia Sotomayor is both a “racist” and a “hack,” the conservative radio commentator bloviated during his popular broadcast. Read the rest.

Limbaugh Shifts Rage Toward Court Nominee
Rush Limbaugh took an intermission from bashing former Secretary of State Colin Powell Tuesday to focus his energies on President Obama’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. Sonia Sotomayor is both a “racist” and a “hack,” the conservative radio commentator bloviated during his popular broadcast. “Here you have a racist – you might want to soften that, and you might want to say a reverse racist,” Limbaugh said, referring to the nominee’s 2001 comment during a Berkeley, Calif., speech that a “wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a White male who hasn’t lived that life.” He also challenged the notion that “minorities cannot be racist because they don’t have the power to implement their racism,” saying, “Well, those days are gone because reverse racists certainly do have the power to implement their power. Obama is the greatest living example of a reverse racist, and now he’s appointed one. …She’s not the brain that they’re portraying her to be. She’s not a constitutional jurist.” In recent weeks, Limbaugh has said that Powell – the first African American to hold the positions of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, National Security Advisor and secretary of State – is not a true Republican but a liberal Democrat in a GOP disguise. Powell has urged fellow Republicans to reject Limbaugh’s rhetoric as incendiary and damaging to the party.

First Black New England Mayor Dies
Leo Jackson the first Black mayor of a New England city, has died. He was 83. Jackson shocked the nation three decades ago when he his fellow city councilors in New London, Conn., selected him to lead the city. One of those giving him a shout out was then-President Jimmy Carter, whom Jackson supported in Carter’s 1980 primary battle with fellow New Englander, Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy. Although Jackson was only mayor for one, one-year term, he would remain on the New London City Council for the next 13 years. Jackson died at his home in New London on Sunday night.