Obama's pick excelled at Yale Law School and was named to the federal bench by George H.W. Bush. Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama's choice for the U.S. Supreme Court, started her path toward the highest court in the land in a South Bronx housing project. The daughter of Puerto Rican parents who came to New York City during World War II, Sotomayor worked her way through Princeton University, Yale Law School, the Manhattan district attorney's office, a corporate law firm, and the federal bench.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-court-sotomayor27-2009may27,0,5788009.story

The Judge Speaks: A Sotomayor Sampler
Duke speech: Click here for the YouTube video. The controversial quote: “Court of appeals is where policy is made. And I know this is on tape and I shouldn't say that because we don't make law . . . I know. . . I'm not promoting it, I'm not advocating it . . . ”
In Ricci v. DeStefano, a group of white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., challenged the city's decision not to use an employment test for use in promotions when the use of the test results would have had a disproportionate benefit to white applicants over minority applicants. Sotomayor was part of a three-judge panel that upheld the city's determination, calling it “thorough, thoughtful and well-reasoned.”
In Pappas v. Giuliani (click here for the opinion), involved whether an NYPD employee was properly terminated from his job after mailing bigoted and racist material and comments in response to requests for charitable contributions. On appeal, two judges on the three- judge panel ruled that Pappas could be rightfully terminated. In dissent, Judge Sotomayor found fault with the majority's decision to award summary judgment to the police department.
In Maloney v. Cuomo: A New York attorney challenged a state law prohibiting the possession of a so-called chuka stick, a weapon used in martial arts, claiming the ruling violated his Second Amendment right to bear arms. The district court denied the attorney's claim, ruling that the Second Amendment doesn't apply to the states. On appeal, the three-judge panel, which included Judge Sotomayor, agreed with the lower court, ruling that an 1886 Supreme Court ruling called Presser v. Illinois dictated the outcome. It is “settled law . . . that the Second Amendment applies only to limitations the federal government seeks to impose” on one's right to bear arms.
In Riverkeeper v. EPA, she argued that the EPA can't weigh costs and benefits in deciding what the "best technology" is for protecting fish that get sucked into power plants. In a nutshell, she ruled, there's no point in tallying up the marginal costs of extra environmental protections when Congress has already decided they're worth it.
Click for her 2007 decision. WSJ Law Blog May 26, 2009

Feedback from A.Word.A.Day
From: Mary Zelle (zelle4 comcast.net)
Subject: cotton
Def: 1. to become fond of; to get on well together 2. to come to understand
There is also the idiom "in tall cotton", meaning things are going very well at the moment. It relates to the cotton plants thriving, and being high (tall) enough that the pickers don't have to bend over to pick the fiber bolls. I've heard that phrase all my life.
From: Janette Emmerson (janettea tpg.com.au)
Subject: flannel
Anyone who loves plants may be interested to know that there is a beautiful Australian Native flower whose common name is the "flannel" flower--a most appropriate name because its texture and colour is that of cream flannel (in the style of cricket creams). There are 15 species altogether, 14 native to Australia and one to New Zealand. My favourite is the Sydney Flannel flower (Actinotus helianthi) each pointed petal is tipped with soft green.
From: Rudy Rosenberg Sr (rrosenbergsr accuratesurgical.com)
Subject: flannel
Def: nonsense; evasive talk; flattery
In some parts of Flemish Belgium, and particularly in Brussels, someone who is clumsy and drops everything he handles is called: Flanellen Puten (flannel paws). This refers to the limp nature of the flannel. It is called out the moment the object you drop hits the floor.
From: Janet Rizvi (janetrizvi gmail.com)
Subject: fabric words
But fabric is not, by definition, only cloth; it's anything 'framed by art and labour' (Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary), and is derived from Latin faber, 'a worker in hard materials' (ibid.). Suppose you'd called your theme 'textile words'? Now there's a reminder of how words and metaphors relating to textiles pervade our language. Textile is derived from Latin texere, to weave, also the origin of text--words woven into a fabric. Then think how we lose the thread of an argument; spin a yarn; give credence (or not) to a tissue of lies; spout homespun philosophy; and travel from one airport terminal to another on a shuttle bus. Nor must we forget the Greek and Roman Fates, spinning, measuring, and cutting the thread of each of our lives. And finally, a literary warning: 'Oh what a tangled web we weave/ When first we practise to deceive.' (Walter Scott, Marmion).

Maria Connelly, granddaughter of a Toledo muse reader, is on Broadway. Click on the May 22 Ballet Girls, Part 2 episode at: http://www.wearebillyelliot.com/

Sometime in the 1940s or 1950s, a recipe for "Mrs. Orr's Chocolate Cake" appeared in the Christian Science Monitor. An Indiana muse reader read the story, and made the recipe. Then she made it again. Then she made it a third time and delivered it to my house. Thanks, Marlene!

Buildings and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Lucas County
http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/OH/Lucas/state2.html
I found the Web site when researching:
Wheeler Block 402 Monroe St., Toledo
At the bottom of the Web page you see links to other Ohio counties and other states.
The Wheeler Block was built in 1896 on the site of the former Wheeler Opera House, which stood on the corner of Monroe and St. Clair from 1872 to 1893, and transferred to Toledo-Lucas County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Inc. in 1983. http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/oh/oh0000/oh0093/data/oh0093.pdf
The Wheeler Block, Secor Hotel, part of the St. Clair historic district, and Fort
Industry Square were within the vicinity of the SeaGate Civic/Convention Center project site, all listed on the National Register. This designation supposedly gave these structures certain protection from demolition if federal funds were involved. The SeaGate Civic Center project made use of UDAG funds from the Department of Housing and Development, but the property owners of Wheeler Block and the eastern side of the St. Clair historic district allowed the project developers to raze these properties to make way for the civic center. The Wheeler Block was razed in 1984 and the Convention Center was built in 1987. http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/send-pdf.cgi?toledo1102625546
(See pages 113, 116, 117, 128, 131, 137 and 246.)
You can research commercial buildings in Toledo at: http://www.toledosattic.org/details_item.asp?key=317&did=65