National Journal's Alexis Simendinger recently spoke with Dawn Cardi, a Manhattan lawyer and friend of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Edited excerpts follow.

NJ: You and Sotomayor have been "first friends" for decades. Tell us something fun about her.

Cardi: I'll tell you a little, funny story. We play this amazingly competitive game of Scattergories every Thanksgiving [with my family]. One year, we picked her to be the judge. We fired her. We said, "You're never being the judge again. You're a terrible judge!" She was not listening to our arguments and she was ruling improperly, we thought, on the definitions for the words.

Cardi: What a bad rap, oh please. Give me a break. First of all, she didn't write the decision. Secondly, there were other judges who agreed with her. I have to believe, knowing her, there was precedent. Believe me, she's not out to hurt white firemen. Her family members are blue-collar people, come on! And, if this is the best [her critics] can come up with against her, bring it on!

NJ: Your friend says she's been lucky. How?

Cardi: There is this bit of luck, you know -- right place, right time. For example, when she was on the [State of New York Mortgage Agency] board, she met Benito Romano [the first Puerto Rican to serve as New York's federal prosecutor on an interim basis]. Then, when [Sen. Daniel Patrick] Moynihan was looking for a candidate [for the District Court in 1991], he went to Benito Romano, but he couldn't do it. So they asked him, 'Do you have other good candidates?' and she was one. Now that's luck, but it's also her ability. She stood out and impressed him.

NJ: How important is it to Judge Sotomayor to see more women on the bench?

Cardi: Oh, it's critical. When the Court of Appeals in New York came out with their seven candidates for chief justice and none of them was a woman to replace Judge Judith Kaye -- I mean, it's shocking.... Of course we talk about how important it is for people who have not been accepted in the law to obtain these positions and then mentor others. She's done it with young women, she's done it with Latinos, minorities. She goes out of her way to mentor... having interns come into her office or people visit her courtroom.

NJ: Sotomayor, who is divorced, emphasizes how important family and friends are to her. Do you think she regrets not being a parent?

Cardi: I think Sonia and I shared these extremely strong, amazing mothers. When my mother died, Sonia was there for me and my sisters every minute of it. She said something very interesting to me. When I gave my mother's eulogy, she looked around the room and she thought to herself, 'You know, there are a lot of people in my life, but no one will ever love me the way you loved your mother.' That's a little regret, you know? It's the way it worked out.... Could she have done it? If she'd put her mind to it, she could have done it. But it didn't happen. And you know what, maybe she wouldn't be going to the Supreme Court if it did -- I don't know.

NJ: What does Sotomayor enjoy when she's not refereeing board-game competitions?

Cardi: She likes to bicycle. She likes to hike. She likes to cook. She entertains. She'll have us over for Halloween so we can see the parade from her apartment. She hosted my 20th wedding anniversary dinner in her house and [a party] for my 40th birthday. She's extremely social.