Sotomayor, Gorsuch Warn That Divisions Threaten U.S. Democracy

Two U.S. Supreme Court justices of opposing philosophies called for a return to civil discourse, warning that societal divisions and the spread of false information via social media pose a threat to American democracy.

In a recorded event released Wednesday and sponsored by the Center for Strategic & International Studies, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch lamented the nation’s collective inability to listen to one another, calling it a national security threat in a politically fractious time.

“This is the scariest of times, and the most exciting of times,” Sotomayor said in the video conversation last month. “We had one ...