Sotomayor was born in the Bronx in 1954 to Puerto Rican parents. Shortly before her eighth birthday, she was diagnosed with diabetes. Though she did not understand the implications, she could see that the news devastated her family, who saw the disease as a death sentence. Her father suffered from alcoholism, which caused shame and tension within the family and kept them isolated. Sotomayor developed a strong bond with her grandmother, Abuelita, whose apartment provided a refuge from her volatile home environment. After her diabetes diagnosis, Sotomayor resolved to learn how to give herself her insulin shot so her weekly sleepovers with Abuelita would not have to end and so that her parents were not fight about her. Sotomayor credits the combination of her diabetes and her parents’ unreliability with forcing her to become self-reliant at an early age, which has both helped and hurt her in her life.

She attended Catholic school, graduating from Cardinal Spellman in 1972. She matriculated at Princeton University, graduating summa cum laude and receiving the Pyne Prize in 1976. She entered Yale law school the same year, graduating in 1979, then joined the New York City District Attorney’s office as a prosecutor. Four and a half years later, she joined a private law firm, where she stayed until she became a judge in 1991.