Saturday, February 28, 2026

Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor Brings Civic Message to Pasadena Schools, Playhouse

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor made three stops in Pasadena during a multi-day visit to the Los Angeles area in early February, speaking to high school students, reading her children’s book to fifth graders at the Pasadena Playhouse and joining a panel of fellow Latina jurists at nearby Occidental College. Her visit was not widely publicized at the time.

Sotomayor, the first Hispanic and first Latina justice on the nation’s highest court, delivered a message of civic engagement and education during appearances on February 6 and February 9. The visits were part of a national tour connected to her children’s book Just Shine! How to Be a Better You, published in September 2025 by Philomel Books.

On Friday, February 6, Sotomayor held a fireside chat with students at Pasadena High School, 2925 E. Sierra Madre Blvd. She spoke about her personal journey to the Supreme Court and urged students to see their own stories as sources of strength, according to a Pasadena Unified School District account of the visit. Students asked questions about civic engagement and public service.

Later that day, Sotomayor joined a panel discussion at Thorne Hall on the Occidental College campus in Los Angeles. The panel included California Supreme Court Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, the first Latina to serve on that court, and Chief Judge Mary Murguia of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the first Latina to serve as chief judge of a federal appellate court. California Supreme Court Associate Justice Kelli M. Evans moderated the discussion, according to the event sponsors.

The Occidental event was sponsored by the California Unity Bar, the Los Angeles County Unity Bar and Occidental College, according to a PUSD account of the visit. Nine students from Pasadena High School’s Law and Public Service Pathway attended, accompanied by LPS teacher Greg Ohlson and Principal Dr. Eric Barba.

Also on February 6, Sotomayor spoke at UCLA School of Law, where she urged students not to be bystanders in civic engagement. “One thing you can’t do is give up. Do something,” Sotomayor said, according to a UCLA Law account of the event. The discussion was moderated by Kevin Johnson, president of the California Unity Bar.

Sotomayor told the UCLA audience that effective legal advocacy requires connecting with both the mind and the heart, according to the university’s account. “It is you young people who follow us who have the intelligence, resources, and, I hope, the heart to leave the world better,” she said.

On Monday, February 9, Sotomayor read from Just Shine! to children at the Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave. Ninety-four fifth graders from Monterey Hills Elementary School in the South Pasadena Unified School District attended the reading, according to SPUSD. Sotomayor walked students through the basics of the court system and spoke about her passion for writing children’s books, according to accounts from multiple school districts whose students attended.

The book, illustrated by Jacqueline Alcántara, is inspired by lessons Sotomayor learned from her late mother, Celina. Students had submitted questions in advance, and several were selected to speak with Sotomayor near the end of the program, according to the South Pasadena Unified School District.

That evening, Sotomayor received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Japanese American Bar Association at its 49th Annual Installation and Awards Dinner at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, according to JABA. The association was founded in 1977 in Los Angeles.

Sotomayor was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Barack Obama on May 26, 2009, and assumed the role on August 8, 2009. She earned a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from Princeton University in 1976 and a law degree from Yale Law School in 1979.

At the Occidental College panel, Sotomayor said civic participation is about integration rather than assimilation, saying that communities succeed when people reach outside their own groups, according to the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, whose president attended the event.

The Los Angeles–area appearances were part of a broader national tour that continued to San Antonio and Austin, Texas, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, in the following days, according to Fix the Court, a nonprofit that tracks Supreme Court justices’ public appearances.