The staff of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor pushed libraries and colleges to buy multiple copies of her books, according to a report by the Associated Press.
Aides to the justice urged institutions where Sotomayor was scheduled to speak to make the purchases. Her publisher, Penguin Random House, also urged the libraries and colleges to buy her books, the report says.
Sotomayor, who was appointed to the court by former President Barack Obama in 2009, is the author of several books, including a memoir, My Beloved World, and four books for children, such as Just Ask! Be Different, Be Brave, Be You, illustrated by Rafael López, and Just Help! How to Build a Better World, illustrated by Angela Dominguez.
The AP reports that after Just Ask! was published in 2019, Sotomayor was due to speak at the Multnomah County Library in Portland, Oregon. Anh Le, an aide to Sotomayor, emailed the library, “For an event with 1,000 people and they have to have a copy of Just Ask to get into the line, 250 books is definitely not enough. Families purchase multiples and people will be upset if they are unable to get in line because the book required is sold out.”
Similar pushes were made to the University of California, Davis School of Law, Clemson University, and other institutions.
The Supreme Court said in a statement to the AP, “When [Sotomayor] is invited to participate in a book program, Chambers staff recommends the number of books [for an organization to order] based on the size of the audience so as not to disappoint attendees who may anticipate books being available at an event.”
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
