U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor sat in Yankee Stadium yesterday in a section called “The Judge’s Chamber.” It is named after Yankee baseball player Aaron Judge. Sotomayor is from the Bronx and has been a fan for a long time.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

At Yankee Stadium yesterday, a hometown fan made an appearance to cheer against the Red Sox.

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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #1: In the Judge’s Chambers a real big-time judge in the glasses. That is Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the Supreme Court of the United States, born in the Bronx and rooting on Aaron Judge. That is pretty awesome.

SHAPIRO: The Judge’s Chambers is a special cheering section the Yankees set up to honor slugger Aaron Judge.

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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #1: There it goes, deep to left, really deep. See you.

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #2: Wow.

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #1: Oh, my goodness, what a shot by Aaron Judge.

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

That was Judge hitting a home run in June that went 496 feet. This summer, his fans started showing up in judge’s robes and white wigs.

SHAPIRO: Then the Yankees took it up a notch by giving out foam gavels and putting up fake wood paneling to make his cheering section look like a courtroom.

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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #1: You don’t really see Supreme Court justices smile like that, so that’s a nice – they’re all so serious. Serious things to do.

MCEVERS: In the mid-’90s, Sotomayor became known as the woman who saved baseball. There was a big baseball strike in 1994, and the dispute eventually reached Sotomayor at the U.S. district court in New York. She sided with the players over the owners and forced both sides back to negotiations.

SHAPIRO: At Yankee Stadium yesterday, Justice Sotomayor wore a black robe with the Yankees logo. She returns to the nine-justice lineup in Washington in October. We’ll see if the Yankees are still playing then.

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