photo by: (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor speaks as she attends an opening ceremony of the Yonkers Public School District's new Justice Sonia Sotomayor Community School on Monday, Sept 16, 2024, in New York.

Local students — ranging from law school students to elementary students — will get a chance to visit in person with a sitting U.S. Supreme Court justice next month.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor will be visiting the University of Kansas campus on April 6 and April 7, KU’s law school has confirmed.

Sotomayor was invited to campus, as multiple members of the KU community — former provost Barbara Bichelmeyer and KU Law alumnae Mary H. Murguía, the chief judge of Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, among others — have connections to Sotomayor, a spokesperson for the law school said.

While in Lawrence, Sotomayor will participate in a fireside chat at the Lied Center, moderated by Judge Murguía and Janet Murguía, president and CEO of the Latino civil rights organization UnidosUS. The event is invitation-only and will include judges and legislators from across the state, select representatives from various KU schools and departments, and members of the state’s legal community, among others, KU law school spokeperson Julie Francisco said.

Additionally, KU law school leaders have scheduled events for KU law school students, KU law school faculty, invited elementary students, and a pair of dinners with selected guests.

“It is a tremendous opportunity, particularly for our students, to have this kind of contact with someone at the Supreme Court level,” Francisco said. “I think this is one of the ultimate experiences for a law school student.”

Sotomayor has been on the nation’s highest court since 2009, after being appointed by President Barack Obama. She’s the nation’s first Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court, and the third woman to serve on the court.

A Yale law school graduate, Sotomayor was first appointed to a federal judgeship, in the Southern District of New York, by President George H.W. Bush, and later was appointed to an appellate position by President Bill Clinton.

Sotomayor is the first sitting Supreme Court justice to visit KU since Justice Clarence Thomas in 2018, Francisco said.