Fewer Steps, Same Sharp Voice from Justice Sotomayor on the Road

Justice Sonia Sotomayor moves a bit slower than when she joined the Supreme Court 17 years ago and no longer roams the auditorium like a talk show host, something that made the pioneering Latina justice seem all the more approachable, a shift she says is at the direction of her security detail.

But appearing in Kansas and Alabama this week, Sotomayor, 71, still relished talking about how watching Perry Mason drew her to the law as a kid and was excited as ever offering details of her latest children’s book, “Just Try!” The book will be the justice’s sixth written for young audiences, including an adaption of her memoir, “My Beloved World.”

Sotomayor, who took an unusually public and pointed swipe at fellow justice Brett Kavanaugh while speaking in Kansas, also once again showed this week she’s more apt to vent her own frustrations publicly at events than her typically tight-lipped colleagues.

Two years ago, Sotomayor told Berkeley law students “I’m tired” while talking about how the court’s emergency docket had swamped the justices workload, something that’s continued in President Donald Trump’s second term.

Sotomayor continues to find herself in dissent on the 6-3 conservative court, including when it last September allowed immigration agents in Los Angeles to resume raids targeting people based solely on apparent race, language, occupation or presence at a location such as a car wash.

Kavanaugh wrote a concurring opinion that said legal residents “promptly go free” after “typically brief” encounters with authorities, a comment Sotomayor repudiated in public remarks on Tuesday.

“This is from a man whose parents were professionals,” she said in an appearance at the University of Kansas School of Law. “And probably doesn’t really know any person who works by the hour.”

Two days later, Sotomayor responded with a note of defeat to a question from a University of Alabama law student about how she’s built bridges with the court’s conservative majority.

“If you mean bridges—convince them that they’re wrong—I dissent so much,” Sotomayor said. “I’m not very successful.”

The remarks were reflective of the position Sotomayor’s found herself in again and again lately.

In March alone, she issued a series of dissents over the court’s refusal to hear a mix of criminal cases, including one solo dissent that accused the court of a “grave error” by failing to review a case stemming from the arrest of a journalist in Texas.

Sotomayor, joined by fellow liberals Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, also said the court turned qualified immunity into an “absolute shield for law enforcement officers” after the justices summarily reversed a lower court ruling that allowed a civil rights lawsuit to proceed against a Vermont police officer who used a rear wristlock on a protester.

That same month, Sotomayor, in another dissent joined by Kagan and Jackson, accused the court’s conservatives of disregarding their own precedent when they halted the redrawing of a Republican-held congressional district in New York City.

“Rules for thee but not for me,” Sotomayor wrote.

Sotomayor’s public appearances came as the justices near the end of a term defined by disputes testing the boundaries of President Donald Trump’s powers. Nominated in 2009, she is the longest serving Democratic appointee on the bench, which fueled some unease among progressives ahead of the 2024 election.

While she wasn’t the subject of any public pressure campaign, some liberals quietly hoped she’d retire to guarantee Joe Biden could pick her replacement as her former colleague, Stephen Breyer, did in 2022.

Now in her 17th term, Sotomayor and her liberal colleagues have remained in near lockstep on matters that closely divide the justices. But Sotomayor and Jackson have shown the greatest willingness to question the motives of their colleagues, as demonstrated by certain dissents on the emergency docket that Kagan hasn’t joined.

Jackson, the court’s newest member, has shown signs she may take up Sotomayor’s place as the court’s leftmost pole—and the justice most likely to irritate her conservative colleagues during oral arguments.

Sotomayor remains the liberal bloc’s leader in solo dissents. She has 16 times dissented alone from opinions since she was elevated to the court. Only Thomas has authored more—18—among current members of the court.

The justices in speaking appearances have often emphasized their good relations in the face of increasingly bitter divides. While promoting her memoir last year, Justice Amy Coney Barrett said at the National Book Festival in Washington that she thought collegiality among her colleagues was “really good.”

Sotomayor too, despite her complaints about the court’s decision-making, said relationships among the justices remain cordial during her appearance Thursday at the University of Alabama School of Law.

“With all of them I certainly have a civil relationship,” she said. “And with many, I dare say I have a friendship.”