The employer was rather nervous and he took the question literally and he said seven years ago i came here on the baltimore and ohio railroad. This story has come to my mind in recent weeks because i have often asked myself how did i get here and i want to answer that today and not by saying that i came here on i95 or amtrak. I am who i am in the first place because of my parents and because of the things they taught me and i know from my own experience as a parents that parents probably teach most powerfully not through their words, but through their deeds and my parents taught me through the stories of their lives and i dont take any credit for the things they did with the things they experienced, but they made a great impression on me. My father was brought to this country as an infant. He lost his mother as a teenager and he grew up in poverty. Although, he graduated at the top of his High School Class he had no money for college and he was set to work in a factory, but at the last minute a kind person in the trenton area arranged for him to receive a 50 scholarship and that was enough in those days for him to pay the tuition at a local college and by one years suit and that made the difference between him working in a factoring going to college. After he graduated from college in 1935, he found teaching jobs for italian americans were not easy to come by and had to find other work for a while, but eventually he became a teacher and is served in the pacific during world war ii and as has been mentioned for many years he worked in a nonpartisan position for the new jersey legislature, which was an institution he revered. His story is a story thats typical of a lot of americans both back in his day and today and its a story as far as i can see about the opportunities that our country offers and also about the need for fairness and hard work and perseverance in the power of a small good deed. My mother that is firstgeneration american. Her father worked in the steel mill interest in new jersey. Her mother came from a culture in which women generally didnt even leave the house alone and yet my mother became the first person in her family to get a college degree. She worked for more than a decade before marrying. She went to new york city to get a masters degree and is she continued to work as a teacher and principal until she was forced to retire and bow she and my father instilled in my sister and me the love of learning. I got here in part because of a community in which i grew up. It was warm, but definitely an unpretentious down to earth community. Most of the adults in the neighborhood or not college graduates. I attended the Public Schools took in my spare time i played baseball and other sports with my friends and i have happy memories and strong memories of those days and a good memories and good sense and decency of my friends and my neighbors. After i graduated from high school, i went to a full 12 miles down the road, but really to a different world when i entered Princeton University. A generation earlier i think someone from my background and probably would not have felt fully comfortable at college like princeton, but by the time i graduated from high School Things had it changed. This was a time of great intellectual incitement for me, both college and law school opened i knew you new worlds and new ideas in the late 60s and early 70s. It was a time of turmoil at colleges and universities and i saw some are smart people and very privileged people behaving irresponsibly and i couldnt help making a contrast between some of the worst of what i saw on the campus and the good sense and decency of the people back in my own community. Im here in part because of my experiences as a lawyer. Had the good fortune to begin my legal career as a law clerk for a judgewho really epitomized openmindedness and fairness. He read the record in detail on every single case that came before me. He insisted on scrupulously following precedence, both the precedence of the Supreme Court and the decisions of his own court. He taught all of his law clerks at every case and it had to be decided on an individual basis and he really didnt have much use for any grand theories. After my clerkship finished i worked for more than a decade as an attorney in the department of justice and i can still remember the date as an assistant us attorney when i stood up in courts for the first time and probably said my name is samuel only go and i represent the United States in this core. It was a great honor for me to have United States is my client during all of those years. I have been shaped by the experiences of the people who are closest to me, by the things i have learned from martha, by my hopes and my concerns for my children. By the experiences of members of my family who are getting older. My seared sisters experiences as a trial lawyer in a profession that is traditionally dominated by men and of course i have been shaped for the last 15 years by my experiences as a judge of the court of appeal. During that time i have sat on thousands of cases. Someone mentioned that exact figure this morning. I dont know what the exact figure is, but its way up in the thousands and i have written hundreds of opinions and members of this committee and members of their staff who have the job of reviewing all of those opinions really have my sympathy. I think that may have constituted cruel and unusual punishments. I have learned a lot during my years on the Third Circuit particularly i think about the way in which a judge goes about the work of judging. I have learned by doing, by sitting on all of these cases and i think i have also learned from the example of some really remarkable colleagues. When i became a judge i stopped being a practicing attorney and that was a big change in role. The role of a practicing attorney is to achieve a desirable results for the client in the particular case at hand. A judge cant think that way. A judge cant have any agenda. A judge can have a any preferred outcome in any particular case and a judge certainly doesnt have a client. Judges only obligation and its a solemn obligation is to the rule of law and that means that in every single case the judge has to do with the law requires. Good judges develop certain habits. One of those habits of mind is the habit of delaying, reaching conclusions until everything has been considered. Good judges are always open to the possibility of changing their mind based on the next brief they read or the next argument that is made by anna attorney who is appearing before them or a comment that is made by a colleague during the conference. Judges privately discuss the case. Its been a great honor for me to spend my career in Public Service. It has been a particular honor for me to serve on the courts of appeals for these past 15 years because its given me the opportunity to use whatever talents i have to serve my country but upholding the rule of law and there is nothing that is more important for our republic than the rule of law. No person in this country the matter how high or powerful is above the law and no person in this country is beneath the law. 15 years ago when i was sworn in as a judge of the court of appeal i took an oath. I put my hand on the bible and i swore that i would administer Justice Without respect of persons, that i would do equal right to the poor and the rich and i would carry out my duties under the constitution and the law of the United States. That is what i have tried to do to the very best of my ability for the past 15 years and if i am confirmed i pledge to you that that is what i would do in the Supreme Court. Thank you. Our program on justices of the Supreme Court continues with president Barack Obamas first appointed, Sonia Sotomayor. She was confirmed 6031 in 2009 replacing Justice David souter who was appointed by George Hw Bush. Judge Sonia Sotomayor previously served on the second court of appeal and she is the first hispanic to serve on the Supreme Court. We will show you a brief portion of justice Sonia Sotomayors herein including an introduction by new york senator charles schumer. Judge Sonia Sotomayor embodies what we all strive for in american citizens. For life in her career are not about race or gender. Although, as for all as these are important parts of who she is. Her story is about how race and class at the unit of the day are not supposed to predetermine anything in america. What matters is the hardworking education and of those things will pay off no matter who you are or where you have come from. Its exactly what each of us want for ourselves and for our children and this is why this moment is historic for all americans. Judge Sonia Sotomayor was born to parents who moved to new york from puerto rico during world war ii. Her father was a factory worker with a third grade education. He died when she was nine. Her mother worked in raised Sonia Sotomayor and her brother, now a doctor practicing in syracuse on her own. Sonja graduated first in her High School Class from Cardinal Spellman high school in 1971. She has returned to Cardinal Spellman to speak their and to encourage future alumni to work hard, get an education and pursue their dreams the same way she did. When Sonia Sotomayor was growing up, the nancy drew stories inspired her sense of adventure, develop her sense of justice and showed her that women could and shou be outspoken in bold now in 2009, there are many more role models for a young Cardinal Spellman student to choose from. With judge Sonia Sotomayor foremost among them. Judge Sonia Sotomayor went on to employ her enormous talent where she graduated summa cum laude, the highest honor the princeton student. This is an award given not just to the smartest in the class, but to the most exceptionally smart student who is also given the most to her community. She graduated from Yale Law School where she was a lie review editor and because we have such an extensive judicial record before us i believe these hearings will matter less than several previous nominees or at the least that these hearings will bear out what is obvious that she is modest and humble in her approach to judgment. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I also want to thank senator schumer for their kind introduction. In recent weeks i have had the privilege and pleasure of meeting 89 senators including all of the members of this committee. Each of you have been gracious to me and i have so much enjoyed meeting you. Our meetings have given me an illuminating tour of the 50 states and invaluable incitement into the American People. There are countless families, members and friends, who have done so much over the years to make this day possible. I am deeply appreciative for their love and support. I want to make one special note of thanks to my mother. I am here as many of you have noticed because of her aspirations and sacrifices for both my brother and me. [inaudible] i am very grateful to the president s and humbled to be here today as a nominee for the United StatesSupreme Court. The progression of my life has been uniquely american. My parents left puerto rico during world war ii. I grew up in modest circumstances in the bronx housing projects. My father, a factory worker with a third grade education passed away when i was nine years old. On her own my mother raised my brother and me. She taught us that the key to success in america is a good education and she set the example, studying alongside my brother and me at our Kitchen Table so she could become a registered nurse. We worked hard. I poured myself into my studies at Cardinal Spellman high school earning scholarships to Princeton University and then with gail law school while my brother went on to medical school. Our achievements are due to the values we learned as children and they have continued to guide my wifes endeavors. I try to pass on this legacy by serving as a mentor and friend to my many godchildren. Also to students of all backgrounds over the past three decades i have seen our judicial system from a number of different perspectives, as a big city prosecutor, as a corporate litigator, as a trial judge and as an appellate judge. My first job after law school was as an assistant District Attorney in new york. There i saw children exploited and abused. I fell to the pain and suffering of the families torn apart by the needless deaths of loved ones. I saw been blurred the tough job Law Enforcement has in protecting the public. In my next job i focused on commercial instead of criminal matters. And litigated issues on behalf of national and International Businesses and advised them on matters raising ranging from contract to trademark. My career as an advocate ended and my career as a judge began when i was appointed by president George Hw Bush to the United StatesDistrict Court of the Southern District of new york. As a trial judge, i did decide over 450 cases and presided over dozens of trials with perhaps my most famous case being the Major League Baseball strike in 1995. After six extraordinary years on the District Court, i was appointed by president clinton to the United States court of appeals to the second circuit. On that court i have enjoyed the benefit of sharing ideas and perspectives with wonderful colleagues as we have worked together to resolve the issues before us. I have now served as an appellate judge for over a decade deciding a wide range of constitutional statutory and other legal questions. Throughout my 17 years on the bench i have witnessed the human consequences of my decisions. Those decisions have not been made to serve the interest of any one litigant, but always to serve the larger interests of impartial justice. In the past month many senators have asked me about my judicial philosophy. Its a simple. Fidelity to the law. Of the task of a judge is not to make law. It is to apply the law. It is clear, i believe, that my record into courts reflects my rigorous commitment to interpreting the constitution according to its terms, interpreting statutes according to their term and congress is intense and hewing faithfully to precedents established by the Supreme Court and by my circuit court. In each case i have heard i have applied the law to the facts at hand. The process of judging is at hand when the arguments and concerns of the parties of the litigation are understood and acknowledged. That is why i generally structure my opinions by setting out what the law requires and then explaining why a country position synthetic or not is accepted or rejected. That is how i see to strengthen both of rule of law and faith in the impartiality of our judicial system. My personal and professional experiences help me to listen it and at their stand with the law always commanding the results in every case. Since president obama announced my nomination in may, i have received letters from people all over this country. Many tell a unique story of hope in spite of struggle. Each letter has deeply touched me. Each reflects the dream, a belief in the dream that led my parents to come to new york all those years ago. It is our constitution that makes that dream possible and i announced the honor of a the holding upholding the constitution as a justice on the Supreme Court. Senators, i look forward in the next two days to answering your questions, to having the American People learn more about me and to being part of a process that reflects the greatness of our constitution and of our nation. Thank you all. Our program on sitting Supreme Court justices concludes with elena kagan, nominated by president obama to fill the seat vacated by Justice John Paul stevens. Justice elena kagan was confirmed in 2010 by vote up 6337. She had never been a judge before, but had served as solicitor general in the Obama Administration and as dean of harvard law school. At her confirmation hearing elena kagan was introduced by massachusetts senator john kerry a reminder you can watch confirmation hearings for all of the current Supreme Court justices on our Video Library at cspan. Org. Her life has been characterized by her passion for Public Service and her awareness of what it means to be a good public citizen. Close friend from her days clerking for Justice Marshall remembers interviewing and a big law firm in new york meeting with a young partner who with no family to support was pulling him close to a Million Dollars year. Alain asked him what he do with all of that money and he replied i buy art. Elena kagan just shook her head and the conviction that there re