9 seconds ago 2009-11-10T05:55:05-08:00
Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor will rack up a couple of "firsts" if she's confirmed.
Everyone's been talking about the obvious one: She would be the first Latina on the court. But Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., pointed out another first that may have slipped by you if you weren't paying attention. Sotomayor would become the first nominee "in well over a century to be nominated to three different federal judgeships by three different presidents," Leahy said.
Sotomayor was nominated to the U.S. District Court by President George H.W. Bush, to the U.S. Appeals Court by President Bill Clinton and to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Barack Obama. The last Supreme Court justice to serve on the U.S. District Court and the Appeals Court was Justice Charles Whittaker, who served on the Supreme Court from 1957-62.
-Jesse J. Holland, AP reporter, Supreme Court
