Notebook: Sonia Sotomayor

As a young girl, she loved watching Perry Mason ... and knew early on she wanted to be a judge.

It might have seemed like a reach for a Puerto Rican girl from the Bronx whose father died when she was just 9 years old.

But today, Sonia Sotomayor is President Obama's pick for the U.S. Supreme Court. She would replace Justice David Souter who announced his retirement earlier this month.

With a Democratic majority in the Senate her confirmation is likely, making her the Court's first Hispanic justice -- and only its third woman.

In the coming weeks we will no doubt get a much better idea of who she is and what she'll stand for as a Justice.

Today, though, I'd like to congratulate her mother. A single mom whose two children went on to be a doctor and a judge who will make history.

Their story is proof positive that when kids stand on sturdy shoulders they can reach for the stars -- or all the way to the highest court in the land.