As we near Monday’s confirmation hearings, the Times has delved ever deeper into Sonia Sotomayor’s life in the city. They’ve uncovered a bunch of fun little tidbits — for example, she used to wear a bulletproof vest when she ventured into Chinatown, and she’s partial to Grimaldi’s. But the article kind of brought us down, because though Sotomayor’s devotion to the law has elevated her to the precipice of the Supreme Court, it also seems to have put the kibosh on her romantic life.
Her relentless work schedule contributed to the breakup of her marriage in 1983, she admits. That same hectic lifestyle turned off an unknown number of other suitors. “A man who calls you three times and all three times you answer, I’ve got to work late, I’m flying to such and such a place,” she said in a television interview, “after the third time, he begins thinking, ‘Gee, maybe she’s not interested.’” (Either that or he bails after realizing, “This relationship would suck.”) She also made things harder on herself when she became a judge by preemptively swearing off all lawyers, some of the only human people she regularly comes into contact with. Who knows, maybe more suitors will emerge once she reaches the Supreme Court, what with that sexy power and hot outfit and all. Oh, if only eligible bachelor David Souter hadn’t left. That would have been an awesome couple.
