Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said Monday that it “truly traumatizes” her when her conservative colleagues win cases, according to CNN.
Sotomayor spoke Monday at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law about the court’s heavy caseload and her disappointment with its more conservative direction. “I live in frustration,” she said, according to CNN, while also encouraging the students in attendance to be patient and work toward reversing those decisions.
“And as you heard, every loss truly traumatizes me in my stomach and in my heart,” she said, commenting on the court’s conservative shift, according to CNN. “But I have to get up the next morning and keep on fighting.”
Last term, the Supreme Court blocked affirmative action in college admissions, affirmed a Christian designer could not be compelled to create custom wedding websites for same-sex couples in violation of her beliefs and struck down the Biden administration’s plan to grant student loan forgiveness to nearly 40 million Americans. (RELATED: Sotomayor Argues Religious Free Speech Case Creates Precedent For Discrimination Against Interracial Couples)
TOPSHOT – Justices of the US Supreme Court pose for their official photo at the Supreme Court in Washington, DC on October 7, 2022. – (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY / AFP)
Sotomayor noted the court’s calendar is especially busy this year, saying she’s “working harder” than she had before under the current caseload and, at “almost 70 years old,” finds the work demanding, according to Bloomberg Law. This term, the Supreme Court will have to rule on cases dealing with Trump’s ballot eligibility, abortion, social media censorship, the administrative state and the Second Amendment.
“Cases are bigger. They’re more demanding. The number of amici are greater, and you know that our emergency calendar is so much more active. I’m tired,” she said, according to Bloomberg Law. “There used to be a time when we had a good chunk of the summer break. Not any more. The emergency calendar is busy almost on a weekly basis.”
NEW: #SCOTUS won’t halt execution of Alabama death row inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith, who is set to be the first person put to death by nitrogen hypoxia after his first execution by lethal injection failed. There were no noted dissents. No 23A664. pic.twitter.com/WWREiFe7ur
— Kimberly Robinson (@KimberlyRobinsn) January 24, 2024
The Supreme Court’s emergency docket has been busy in recent weeks with issues like the Biden administration’s request to allow border patrol to remove Texas’ border wire, which the Supreme Court granted 5-4, and an Alabama inmate’s bid to stop his execution using an untested method, which the Court declined over the objections of the three liberal justices. On Friday, Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) filed an emergency petition asking the justices to halt West Point’s race-based admissions policy.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott tours the US-Mexico border at the Rio Grande River in Eagle Pass, Texas, on May 23, 2022. (Photo by allison dinner / AFP) (Photo by ALLISON DINNER/AFP via Getty Images)
Sotomayor encouraged students not to “despair” because “change never happens on its own,” according to CNN. “Change happens because people care about moving the arc of the universe towards justice,” she said. “And it can take time and it can take frustration.”(RELATED: Supreme Court Declines To Stop Alabama From Executing Inmate With Nitrogen Gas)
Yet Sotomayor also repeated a sentiment she has mentioned before — that Justice Clarence Thomas “is the only justice who knows the name of every employee on the Supreme Court,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
“I can have a very civil conversation with him, even though I have very passionate disagreements,” she said, according to the outlet. “That’s how I lower the temperature.”
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