The Eyes of the Law: Justice Sotomayor at Trader Joe’s
When Justice Sonia Sotomayor needs to stock up on her beloved rice, beans and pork, where does she go? One might peg the Supreme Court’s newest member — a liberal, a lawyer, a Greenwich Village resident — as a typical Whole Foods customer.
But perhaps Justice Sotomayor, in a show of support to the president who appointed her to the Supreme Court, is participating in the Whole Foods boycott? Her Honor was spotted shopping for groceries last Thursday at Whole Foods archrival Trader Joe’s, in the Foggy Bottom section of Washington, DC.
The Sotomayor sighting was noted briefly in the Washington Post. But an ATL tipster, who actually met and chatted with Justice Sotomayor at Trader Joe’s, has more details.
Our source saw Justice Sotomayor last Thursday, between 8:00 and 8:30 p.m., at the Trader Joe’s in Foggy Bottom. Local grocery shopping — is this a sign that she’ll be spending more time in the nation’s capital than her predecessor, Justice David Souter, who was famously not a fan of Washington?
Was Justice Sotomayor with an entourage — perhaps some Supreme Court police officers? Or perhaps her new clerks, doing some shopping before having them over for dinner (as she was known to do for her Second Circuit clerks)?
No; Justice Sotomayor was unaccompanied, according to our tipster:
She was by herself! Surprisingly very few people recognized her, but she was very friendly and gracious to those who did. She apologetically said she could not give autographs or take pics (not sure if this is because of policy or just because she didn’t want to).
And what was in her grocery basket? Does Trader Joe’s sell pig intestines? Says our source:
I’m not sure exactly what she was buying — I wasn’t focused on that! But it looked like maybe some fish, veggies, a few sauces — all healthy stuff.
Watch out, conservatives. Justice Sotomayor plans on living — and serving on the Court — until a ripe old age.
So Lady Soto was seen in Foggy Bottom. Does that mean she’ll be settling down in that neighborhood? Not necessarily:
I chatted her up briefly, and she said she was staying with a friend while looking for a place, so she’s not permanently living in that neighborhood — at least not yet.
“Staying with a friend”? Heaven forfend!
Justice Sotomayor, aka Sonia from the Block, has always cast herself as a woman of the people. But couch surfing, as a Supreme Court justice? That may be taking things too far.
Update: In response to some of your comments — no, we are not seriously suggesting that Justice Sotomayor is boycotting Whole Foods.
No word yet on whether Justice Sotomayor will be participating in a Puerto Rico Westlaw boycott.
NAMES & FACES [Washington Post]
(56) Comments
Comments
Suck on FIRST, suckers!
FIRST! My First FIRST!
Waiting for Lady Soto...
Anyone cares about this why?
"she's be settling down . . . ?" Really, Lat?
3 - And anyone cares that you don't?
What a waste of pixels to post a comment like yours.
My grandmother lives in NoVa. She is a somewhat heavy Latina. She was accosted 8 fucking times at Safeway with "OMG are you Justice Sotomayor???"
Yeah, because all Latinas look the same. Nice job, white people.
Please tell me this is an attempt to institute an Article Three Gawker Stalker. Otherwise, David, I'm surprised and disappointed that you'd post something so goddamned uninteresting.
So... if someone shops at Trader Joe's, the natural conclusion is that she's boycotting Whole Foods? Like, what, there's no other reason she could be shopping at Trader Joe's?
Um, how about the fact that Trader Joe's has rock-bottom prices, whereas you could easily blow several hundred in one trip to Whole Foods and still carry your winnings home with relative ease? I love me some Whole Foods but when I want some wine and cheese on the cheap it's TJ's all the way. Seriously, how is this news to anyone?
Or maybe she just likes some of the more obscure but fun offerings you can find at TJ's and nowhere else. I mean, they have the niftiest snack foods I've found anywhere.
Perhaps this is just more anti-west-coast snobbery from Lat, though. Heaven forfend, indeed, that you buy your food from a dude wearing a Hawaiian shirt.
Also, can we please cut it out with the Sonia from the Block crap? I don't care if you attack Sotomayor (there's plenty to attack), I'm just offended by the sheer UNFUNNINESS of that pathetic excuse for a "parody" you guys trumpeted however many weeks/months ago.
Which statement below does NOT apply the same logic ATL used in this post:
1. Obama makes his home in Chicago. Therefore he is boycotting Cleveland.
2. Obama is vacationing at Martha's Vineyard. Therefore, he is boycotting Florida.
3. The speculative nature of this post is stupidly and utterly ridiculous.
7 - Above the Law has had a Gawker Stalker "celebrity sightings" column ever since it launched.
The feature is called "The Eyes of the Law":
http://abovethelaw.com/eyes_of_the_law/
Uh, everyone, I think the boycott thing is a JOKE.
You lawyers can be so literal!
11 is right.
Writing a humorous blog for lawyers = Thankless task.
Trader Joes is the Yale of Hipster Supermarkets
She is a federal employee. She can't afford to shop at Whole Foods.
Lat-
This is the stupidest thing you've ever posted. By far. And I've been reading you since you went by A3G.
At 10:30 last night I saw Partner Emeritus at Nobu with his boytoy, Enrico.
Lat, you've been hanging around Elie too much.
11, I don't think the problem is that we don't get that it's meant to be a joke, but rather that it really isn't funny at all. For a joke to be funny, it first has to make sense. It doesn't make sense for a Whole Foods boycott to even enter into someone's mind when they hear about Sotomayor being at Trader Joe's. The two are completely unconnected -- which even then doesn't doom it, but there's just nothing funny about it. For instance, in the hands of a good comedian, it could be funny to say something like "we heard Sonia Sotomayor was at Trader Joe's in Foggy Bottom this week. We heard she took a poll of her friends about where to shop and Whole Foods won, but she had to throw the poll out because only white people took it." I mean, you could even go for random humor by doing the totally unrelated "we heard Sonia Sotomayor was at Trader Joe's in Foggy Bottom this week. We prefer Whole Foods because Obama wants to put your grandmother in front of a death panel." But this is just stupid.
She's no Harriet Miers. Harriet shops at the Piggly Wiggly.
18 - Wow. You are hilarious.
People always mistake me for Sotomayor when I shop at Trader Joe's.
What else would you expect from someone who has amassed a whopping $30,000 in life savings at the tender age of 50 something.
She's still a bigot no matter where she shops.
Middle aged Latinos in my high school used to shop at trader joes all the time. It was no big deal.
Hmm...so apparently, Supreme Court justices have to shop for groceries like everyone else.
Exactly how is this considered "news"?
"Beware the [eyes] of [the law]."
- Caesar
20, if you were being sarcastic, I wasn't really trying to be funny or saying I'm some great comedian or something. I was just pointing out that Lat's "attempt" at humor here was so bad it failed even more brutally than my own. I may not be able to make a funny, but I at least know one when I see one. And know when I don't.
6 - Kwitcherbitchin, at least we didn't pop your grandmother for trying to smuggle the bean dip out in her granny-panties.
9 - Hey, I could support his boycotting Cleveland.
Slow . . . news . . . day . . . at . . . ATL.
Hey, I just bumped into Justice Roberts at the dry cleaners! He was carrying a Starbucks and scarfing down a tofu hot dog! Just Like Us!
When did ATL become the legal US Weekly?
Tofu hotdog - talk about yer oxymoron.
Do the Trader Joes in Maine have live tanks featuring certain shellfish native to the area?
Trader Jose beer is good. Who am I kidding? Any beer is good.
33, clearly you've never tasted the cousin of pure piss that is Bud Light.
30 - ATL has ALWAYS been the legal version of Us Weekly.
Am I the only one who remembers Lat's days at Underneath Their Robes?
4 - Where did you lift that typo quote? U Sofa King Stew Pid.
Trader Jose - funny typo.
i live in the next block as of December, bunk with me.
Partner Emeritus loves Trader Joe's cream of sumyungai.
um, 37, no, Trader Joe's markets its own beer under the label Trader Jose. It wasn't a typo.
31 - yeah, meat is so manly and necessary.
6,
I hope your grandmother, being full-blooded and all, was wiser than you about this and just laughed it off.
Bitter much?
Doubtful -- a friend of mine saw her at Whole Foods last week.
If I looked like that, I would refrain from eating anything for a period of at least two years.
"Whole Foods and meee...
We used to beee... toGEther.
Everydaaay toGEther. Alwayyys.
"Your buffet bar...
Was always my BEST friend.
I can't believe...
This could be... theee end.
"Arroz con pollo... y.. pico de gallo!
I can't get this stuff
At the Trader Joooooeee's...
"Don't speak!
I know just what you're saying...
You want me to start 'splainin'
I won't tell you 'cause it hurts!
"Don't speak!
I know what you're thinking...
The boycott's not the reason:
Your tacos gave me squirts!
"Oh, la la la la la la La la la la la la,
"Aye, yi yi yi yi...."
Sam Alito lived with friends while he was looking for a permanent place; it's pretty common for newcomer-Justices to DC.
Awesome 45. You already have my vote for commenter of the year.
who gives a flying fukc?
45 - if you're female: will you marry me?
if you're male: will you hang out with me, "i love you, man"-style?
i'm a laid-off corporate mid-level without much to offer at the moment, but i haven't sunk low enough to be a contract attorney yet. pls let me know. thx.
My friend saw her at a Whole Foods in DC just last week and the cashier told her Sotomayor was a regular
señores y señoras
nosotros tenemos más influencia con sus hijos que tu tiene
pero los queremos...
creado y regado de Los Angeles
Juana's Adicción!
18: Very well-put. The news is that Sotomayor was spotted shopping for herself at Trader Joe's and was very gracious. Why couldn't Lat leave it at that without clevering it up?
And Trader Joe's is not a Whole Foods archrival.
What a travesty that she is on the Court.
6 - Can I have my hubcaps back please? thanks.
Wit dat Latina AZZ, no wonder she's at Foggy Bottom