The US Supreme Court, whose building sits immediately across the street from the ministry center of

Rob Schenck directly center behind Sonia Sotomayor during Senate hearing.

Faith and Action, is about to change markedly. This week Judge Sonia Sotomayor is expected to be confirmed by the US Senate as the next sitting associate justice on the High Court. The seat she will occupy was vacated after the retirement of Justice David Souter.

“Judge Sotomayor has a very different personality from Justice Souter,” said Rob Schenck, who met the nominee during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Justice Souter was a reserved, almost reclusive, reticent New Englander. Judge Sotomayor is a passionate and outspoken New Yorker to the core. My father was born in Manhattan, my mother’s from Brooklyn and I served my first church in Queens. I know what that means, a very different temperament indeed.”

The Supreme Court forms an important part of the mission focus of Faith and Action. Rev. Schenck expects to be with the presumptive Justice Sotomayor many times in sometimes intimate settings.

“I think we’ll get along nicely,” said Rev. Schenck. “I certainly be pray that’s the case, and that we’ll have many meaningful conversations about important things.”