Naturally, Justice Sonia Sotomayor came prepared. The associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, known for her deep study of case material, arrived at the University of Vermont on October 20 ready to share with students the lessons that have served her most in life: perseverance in hard times, the necessity of failure, the value of other points of view, and the importance of using your heart.
“Failure never feels good,” Sotomayor told a capacity audience at UVM’s Ira Allen Chapel, “but there's something about the trying in and of itself that's so important.”
Sotomayor, the first Latina and third woman named to the court, was the 2025 speaker for the annual Leahy Public Policy Forum, presented by UVM’s Patrick Leahy Honors College. The forum is designed to address major American public policy issues of the 20th and 21st centuries through visits by subject matter experts. This year’s topic was the Supreme Court and the rule of law.
“This is an historic visit by an historic figure at an historic time,” said Senator Leahy in a statement prior to the event. “Justice Sotomayor is one of the most important figures standing at the crossroads of our democracy. Marcelle and I are honored she will be returning to Vermont to talk with and inspire our students and fellow Vermonters.”
Leahy and Sotomayor share a special history. In 2009, while chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Leahy presided over Sotomayor’s confirmation hearing, noting her deep respect for judicial precedent and “understanding of the real lives of Americans.” Sotomayor was nominated to three different judicial posts by three different presidents: George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. She was confirmed to each position with bipartisan support.
That bipartisan spirit continued among the Vermont elected officials who welcomed Sotomayor to the state. Both Governor Phil Scott, a Republican, and Senator Peter Welch, a Democrat, spoke fondly of each other and of the need to look beyond differences in politics.
“I believe the human factor is important because how we talk to each other matters just as much as how we treat each other,” Scott said. He quoted President Lincoln’s first inaugural address: “‘We are not enemies but friends, we must not be enemies,’ and I believe that's still true 163 years later,” Scott said.
Ask questions
The event, billed as an evening conversation between Justice Sotomayor and UVM President Marlene Tromp, with both seated on easy chairs on the Ira Allen Chapel stage, seemed at times to present a “playbook” for life. Among Sotomayor’s tips: don’t be afraid to not know things.
“I've never been afraid to ask a question, and I've never been afraid to say, ‘I don't know,’” Sotomayor said. When you ask questions, you learn and can get the help you need, she advised, “and that, I think, has been the greatest key to the success of my life.”
Make a plan (and then change it)
Sotomayor was born in the Bronx to Puerto Rican parents. She lived in public housing near Yankee Stadium. English was not her first language, yet she worked hard and persisted in school, graduating as the valedictorian of her high school class and going on to attend Princeton University.
“It was a totally different universe that I never anticipated,” she said. “That's why I'm saying you could do as much research as you want and then sometimes, you’ve just got to jump—even be a little stupid. … I tell people, there's very little that's fatal in life.”
It’s okay to pick the wrong college, or area of study, or pursue the wrong career. You can change course, she said. It might be painful, but it could bring you greater happiness, too.
Sotomayor recalled failing to get a job after her first summer at Yale Law School—something that stung at the time but ultimately changed the trajectory of her life. She had hoped to secure a position in the State Department or at a small law firm when, on a whim, she attended a public interest forum where she met the District Attorney for New York County, Robert Morgenthau. He told her to contact him about a job as a prosecutor and became a lifelong mentor to her.
“I took a leap of faith to try something else,” Sotomayor said. “… Plan your life to the last thing you’re going to do, and then live your life according to that plan until an opportunity presents itself and … take the chance. You can always come back to the playbook.”
Stay in the fight
The conversation delved into some of the thornier issues of the times. Sotomayor said she is disheartened by the current national climate and encouraged attendees to listen and engage with one another.
“We are in a difficult part of American history,” Sotomayor admitted. “… I'm not Pollyanna, and I won’t tell you to be not worried. You should be. But what you shouldn't do is walk away from the fight.”
Sotomayor’s dissents are frequently viewed by some as a rallying call describing injustice. She sees them differently. “The problem with law is that everyone wants it to be black and white,” Sotomayer said. She writes dissents for lawmakers, agency heads, and the public to identify a path out of the messy gray areas. “It is a different view of what the answer should be,” she said.
Sotomayor called on students to pick up the mantle and believe they can do better—otherwise we are lost, “and I don’t want to be lost,” she added.
I'm not Pollyanna, and I won’t tell you to be not worried. You should be. But what you shouldn't do is walk away from the fight. - Justice Sonia Sotomayor
Dr. Tromp asked Sotomayor for parting advice for UVM students, faculty, and staff who are trying to build something for the future.
“Put your heart into it,” she said.
Passion is necessary to persuade others to join and sustain you. Cry and lick your wounds when disappointed, Sotomayor continued, but “once you're finished with that grieving look up and say, ‘let me get up and start again.’ You need heart for that. So, find your heart.”
Just Shine!
Earlier in the day, Sotomayor read her latest children’s book Just Shine! How to be a Better You to a group of third, fourth, and fifth grade students from schools in Winooski, Burlington, and Charlotte. The book tells the story of her mother, Celina, who grew up poor on a farm in Puerto Rico, joined the U.S. Army at 17, and eventually became a nurse who supported her family. Sotomayor explained that she wrote the book after her mother died and was processing all the lessons her mother taught her.
“A lot of times we don’t realize what we’ve learned for a long time,” she said. “That happens to adults too. … The very first people who teach us are our parents. It took me until I was 68 – a very long time – to realize that my best teacher was my mom.”
My mother taught me the way to act with other people in the world, she said, “and right now when you watch TV, people yelling at each other. … My mother taught me how to listen. How to be kind to others. How to act with others to make them feel important.”
Sotomayor described how she pivoted from wanting to be a detective like Nancy Drew to a lawyer like Perry Mason. She recalled an episode of the Perry Mason television show in which a judge dismissed the charges against one of Mason’s clients. She realized then an important thing about judges: they get to have the last word.
“I wanted to have the last word,” she told the students.
Afterwards Katie Fraser, a fourth-grade teacher at Charlotte Central School, wiped tears from her eyes.
It was moving to experience the event with her class and with her own fourth grade son present, Fraser explained. She found out just weeks ago that her class would be one of three to attend the reading.
“That was definitely one of my most favorite emails to write to parents,” Fraser said.
Her students were excited, too—Fraser has all of Sotomayor’s books in her classroom already.
“They just understood the gravity of it,” she said. “It was priceless. The excitement level. The shock factor. I do think this is something they will remember forever.”
No Excuse for Apathy
In the afternoon, Sotomayor discussed policy and the work of the Supreme Court with UVM presidential leadership fellows and students from political science and various Honors College courses.
Every job can teach you something, Sotomayor said–even the most tedious ones.
“Every experience you have—learn something,” she told students. “Even when you are dying from boredom.”
She learned to be a real lawyer while working as a prosecutor, she said, and learned through experience in the courtroom how to hone her public speaking skills and persuade people in ways that moved their minds “and their hearts,” Sotomayor said.
You are looking at our mistakes—learn from them. Figure out what we have done wrong and fix it. - Justice Sonia Sotomayor
She cautioned against interpreting civic engagement as needing to work or volunteer in politics. Be involved in community building, she said. “Don’t let others decide what is good or meaningful work for you. Figure out how to use the skills you have to make something in society better.”
Given the host of problems we face, she continued, “no one has an excuse for apathy.”
When asked about the state of immigration policy, Sotomayor lamented that things would likely get worse before they get better. “I fear we are in a frenzy right now,” she said.
But what gives her hope?
“You,” she said. “Us old fogies are stuck in our ways. We have also failed at making a good world for you, she said. “If I was relying on us—I wouldn’t.”
Her hope is that students don’t become disillusioned by the work ahead and continue to persevere.
“You are looking at our mistakes—learn from them. Figure out what we have done wrong and fix it.”
Junior KimLinh DeBona, a Plainfield, Vt. native, left the event feeling inspired.
“I will definitely be taking her advice,” she said.
Sotomayor’s never-give-up spirit resonated with DeBona. “It’s that type of perseverance” that can drive change, she said.
Hearing Sotomayor’s personal journey made her wonder about her own path. DeBona already planned to be a lawyer. “After hearing [Justice Sotomayor’s story], I might want to be a judge someday.”