Supreme Court Nominations
Sotomayor Described as Intense, Chain-Smoking, Caffeinated Prosecutor
Posted Jun 4, 2009, 07:01 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Judge Sonia Sotomayor was an intense, no-nonsense prosecutor during five years spent at the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, a real-world experience that isn’t shared by justices now on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Sotomayor joined the office fresh out of Yale Law School in 1979, spurning big law firms because she hoped to get quick experience trying cases, the Washington Post reports. She got her wish, winning an early promotion to a felony unit after spending six months prosecuting offenses such as disorderly conduct, public urination and graffiti. Colleagues and friends described her as driven, competitive and focused on the details of her cases.
Former New York police detective Chris Montanino told the newspaper about his encounter with the Supreme Court nominee.
Montanino said he wanted to go after child-porn distributors but he couldn’t find a prosecutor who would take his case seriously. “Then he returned a call from a young woman at the local district attorney's office,” the Post writes, “an intense, chain-smoking prosecutor known for working into the night, fueled by the caffeine buzz from a string of Tab diet sodas.”
Montanino said he blew his top when Sotomayor called him back, but the young prosecutor cut him off. "You will be in my office at 9 a.m. tomorrow," she said, and then hung up.
"And that is the way it went," Montanino told the Post. "She was no-nonsense."
Sotomayor won the case, getting jail sentences for the store owner and a clerk.
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