When Evelia Gonzalez Porto came to the Petersburg area 30 years ago, she found few Hispanics living here—and those who did had no voice. “At the beginning, we were very few and it was very difficult to be accepted. You always had to try to sort of make people believe in you, that you were really a part of the community, not a foreigner,“ she said. “I was educated, knew English well and it was still difficult.“

The Supreme Court is beginning its new term with a new justice—Sonia Sotomayor.

WASHINGTON—Sonia Sotomayor won confirmation yesterday as the Supreme Court’s 111th justice, third woman and first Hispanic after a summerlong debate heavy with ethnic politics and hints of nomination fights to come. She’ll be sworn tomorrow, the first addition to the court by a Democratic president in 15 years. The Senate vote was 68-31 to confirm Sotomayor, with most Republicans lining up in a show of opposition both to her and to President Barack Obama’s standards for a justice.

The Senate’s Democratic women took to the floor Wednesday to highlight the landmark nature of Sonia Sotomayor’s impending confirmation as the first Hispanic and third female Supreme Court justice, as Latino leaders stressed the vote’s importance to their community, a growing part of the electorate.

While explaining his vote to recommend Sonia Sotomayor’s elevation to the Supreme Court, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said: “This is the first Latina woman in the history of the United States to be selected for the Supreme Court. Now that is a big deal. I would not have chosen her, but I understand why President Obama did. I gladly give her my vote, because I think she meets the qualifications test that was used in [Antonin] Scalia and [Ruth Bader] Ginsburg.“

According to its Web page, a certain international law firm “believes that diversity is essential to our continued success as one of the leading law firms in the world. Our mission is to continue our active recruitment and retention of a workforce with a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. By creating such an environment, we believe the Firm and our clients benefit from our collaborative and unique practice.“

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday voted to approve Sonia Sotomayor as the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice over nearly solid Republican opposition, paving the way for a historic confirmation vote.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has put off its vote on U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor for one week after Republicans asked for a delay.

WASHINGTON—Sonia Sotomayor sped toward confirmation as the nation’s first Hispanic justice yesterday, encouraged by Republican promises of a quick vote. If confirmed, Sotomayor, 55, would become the first justice appointed by a Democratic president in 15 years, and the hearings were as much a prelude for future Supreme Court fights as a battle over the judge herself.

Sonia Sotomayor said neither President Barack Obama nor anyone else in the administration asked her views on abortion rights before she was nominated for the Supreme Court.

Cesar Perales has fought his share of critics over the years, but none of those crusades compares with the tempest his Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund has stirred because of the dozen years that Sonia Sotomayor served as a board member.

For weeks, Sonia Sotomayor has put on her best face, displaying a pleasant disposition that has somewhat fended off critics of her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. The search for who she really is escalates this week when she faces the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Live from the Capitol, Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings promise high political theater this week, beamed to the world in dramatic, historic, perhaps comedic glory.

Women’s groups, euphoric when President Barack Obama chose Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, have been remarkably quiet in the weeks since on the judge who would be the court’s third woman ever.

The Supreme Court ruled that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge.