In this Sunday's reading from John 15 Jesus says that the Spirit of truth as well as the disciples will testify to him. If President Barack Obama gets his wish, federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor will hear the testimony of those who argue before the U.S. Supreme Court in coming terms. Tuesday Obama nominated Sotomayor, the first Hispanic to be tapped for the high court.

Sotomayor, a federal appeals judge in New York, is the daughter of Puerto Rican parents and was raised in a Bronx public housing project. She was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 8; her father died when she was 9; and her mother often worked two jobs to send her brother and her to Catholic schools. Obama called her life "an extraordinary journey."

"When Sonia Sotomayor ascends those marble steps to assume her seat on the highest court of the land," Obama said as he introduced her in the East Room of the White House Tuesday, "America will have taken another important step toward realizing the ideal that is etched above its entrance: Equal justice under the law."

Sotomayor's past comments about how her gender and ethnicity affected her decisions, and the role of appeals courts in making policy, generated instant conservative complaints that she is a judicial activist.

Senate Republicans vowed to scrutinize her record, but with Democrats in reach of the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster, the White House appeared to dare Republicans to stand against a history-making nomination at a time when both parties are courting the growing Hispanic vote.

If confirmed, Sotomayor will be the sixth Roman Catholic on the high court, which may provoke debate on the role her faith does or should play in her judicial decision-making. While her life experience may align her with the social justice teachings of the church on issues such as race, poverty, immigration, and economics, observers say, she may be challenged in confirmation hearings to discuss her stance on issues such as abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and gay marriage.

Source: Articles by Peter Baker and Jeff Zeleny and Julie Hirschfeld Davis for the Associated Press
and a posting to USA TODAY'S Faith & Reason blog