Can she reeeeally feel the pain of public school students?

In "freeing herself" from the poverty of her childhood, Sonia Sotomayor had the benefit of attending private, not public schools.

The next time an official in Obama Administration advances efforts to disenfranchise school vouchers or hails the virtues of public education even as he sends his children to a posh private one; the next time a federal court takes up a similar education-related issue; perhaps they should call to mind the personal story of U.S. Supreme Court nominee, current Court of Appeals Court Judge, Sonia Sotomayor, who, it is asserted, bootstrapped her way to her currently and swiftly opening door to life-long celebrity.

Lost in the liberal tumult of ecstasy over her nomination is the simple fact that Judge Sotomayor had the undoubted blessing of attending private schools. All her life.

From the New York Times, May 14, 2009

Her father died when she was 9, leaving her mother to raise her and a brother. In speeches to Latino groups over the years, Judge Sotomayor has recalled how her mother worked six days a week as a nurse to send her and her brother to Catholic school, purchased the only set of encyclopedias in the neighborhood and kept a warm pot of rice and beans on the stove every day for their friends.