Liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor says ‘there are going to be a lot of disappointments in the law’ and urges people to protest possible overturning of Roe v. Wade
- Liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said Wednesday ‘there are going to be a lot of disappointments in the law’
- Sotomayor was speaking virtually at a diversity summit hosted by the American Bar Association
- Her comments come after she released a fiery dissent, responding to the Court’s conservative majoritys’ decision not stop Texas’ restrictive abortion law
- In the Texas case, Sotomayor got liberal Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan to sign on to her slapdown
- ‘The Court’s order is stunning,’ she wrote, calling the law ‘flagrantly unconstitutional’
- She told ABA lawyers, ‘I can’t change Texas’ law, but you can’
Liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said Wednesday ‘there are going to be a lot of disappointments in the law’ as she encouraged young lawyers to be ‘lobbying forces’ and change laws they don’t like.
Sotomayor, who was appointed to the Court by President Barack Obama in 2009, was speaking virtually at a diversity summit hosted by the American Bar Association, which was covered by The Washington Post and CNN. .
Her comments come just weeks after she released a fiery dissent, responding to the Court’s conservative majoritys’ decision not to step in and stop Texas’ restrictive abortion law from going into effect.
Liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said Wednesday ‘there are going to be a lot of disappointments in the law’ as she encouraged young lawyers to be ‘lobbying forces’ and change laws they don’t like
‘There’s going to be a lot of disappointments in the law, a huge amount,’ Sotomayor told the ABA seminar participants. ‘As you study cases and look at outcomes you disagree with, it can get frustrating.’
‘Look at me, look at my dissents,’ she noted.
‘At least I have a vehicle, I have a dissent mechanism that I can explain how I feel,’ she added.
In the Texas case, Sotomayor got liberal Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan to sign on to her slapdown.
Chief Justice John Roberts also voted alongside the liberals, but wrote his own dissent.
He was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush, but has turned into a key swing vote.
‘The Court’s order is stunning,’ she wrote.
She called the Texas law – which bars abortions after six weeks of pregnancy and doesn’t include carve-outs for incest and rape – ‘flagrantly unconstitutional.’
‘Last night, the Court silently acquiesced in a State’s enactment of a law that flouts nearly 50 years of federal precedents. Today, the Court belatedly explains that it declined to grant relief because of procedural complexities of the State’s own invention,’ Sotomayor said.
Sotomayor added that a ‘majority of Justices have opted to bury their heads in the sand.’
‘I can’t change Texas’ law, but you can,’ she continued. ‘You can, and everyone else who may or may not like it can go out there and be lobbying forces in changing laws that you don’t like.’
‘I’m pointing out to that when I shouldn’t because they told me I shouldn’t,’ she commented, referencing how justices aren’t supposed to be speaking publicly about cases that are before them.
‘But the point is, there are going to be a lot of things you don’t like,’ she warned.
The Supreme Court’s new term kicks off Monday, with liberals fearing that the conservative majority will finally doom the 1973 landmark decision, Roe v. Wade.
Before reexamining the Texas statute, the Court will look at a restrictive abortion law from Mississippi.