By Natalia Bonilla –

When I first heard the news of Sonia Sotomayor being nominated as a Supreme Court judge, I didn’t pay any attention. Yes, she is of Puerto Rican ancestry but she was hardly known in our culture here on the island. We didn’t know about her political views or experience to decide if it a wise decision to confirm her or not.

We were still excited about the news of the first Puerto Rican astronaut in space, Joseph M. Acaba, and now we learned that another boricua was being nominated by President Barack Obama as a judge for the U.S. Supreme Court. So, you can´t top that. Many people were proud, and it was all over the news. She wasn´t born on this island. Her parents and family are from Mayaguez, where they are still celebrating the nomination.

But I do not share her views on my home country, Puerto Rico.  In the article,  “Statehood and the Equal Footing Doctrine,” Sotomayor wrote while at Yale about the political advantages my country should acquire if some day it becomes a U.S. state.  Sotomayor wrote that Puerto Rico should maintain its seabed rights if it pursues U.S. statehood. She says that to be a state Puerto Rico has to benefit completely from the economic and political advantages the other states have.

But in reality statehood would not be beneficial for us culturally or economically. We Puerto Ricans can represent our country in international contests such as beauty pageants (Miss Universe) or sports championships (Olympics), among others. If we become a state, we will lose a sense of our cultural pride.

Sotomayor also has indicated she could favor independence for Puerto Rico. In her college thesis at Princeton, she wrote, “I do not disclaim in this thesis that I do not reflect my own bias toward independence for Puerto Rico,” she wrote. “However, unlike other authors, I do not study Luis Muñoz Marin from the assumptions of my own status preference.”

Puerto Rico has been a U.S. commonwealth since 1947 and before that it was a U.S. colony and a Spanish colony before that. This means we are U.S. citizens but we don’t pay federal income taxes and we can’t vote for president.

There are people who want it to remain a commonwealth, those who want it to become the 51st state and those who want independence.

On our island the people debate the options. We could become a state and achieve the “American dream” permanently. Or we could reach the ultimate goal of being a sovereign state. Since our Constitution was created in 1952, we have lived in this comfort zone where we want to have it all.

It is well known by our population that the United States does not want us to be a permanent state; neither do they want us to be a free country.  They prefer the status quo.

Most Puerto Ricans deep inside want the independence of our country. We do not want to live as a permanent dependent state. But we understand our situation and choosing independence would mean losing all the privileges and financial aid we are already accustomed to from the United States.

Despite her opinions, I don’t think Sotomayor would influence the island’s future status.

A Latina in the U.S. Supreme Court would only show the progress the “land of the free” has made over the years to look beyond ethnicity or skin color.

Here in Puerto Rico things are likely to stay the same.