Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor was recently speaking at an event for the American Bar Association, when she took a not-so-thinly veiled shot at President Trump saying, “But right now, we can’t lose the battles we are facing.”
We? Who is “we” Justice Sotomayor?
Everyone knows that Justice Sotomayor is one of the liberal justices on the nation’s highest court, but Supreme Court justices traditionally have tried to at least appear as if they’re above partisan politics.
This comes just as Chief Justice Roberts made some questionable comments of his own.
ABC News reports:
Justice Sonia Sotomayor says lawyers should stand up and fight amid turmoil in nation’s legal system
Justice Sonia Sotomayor said Thursday that lawyers should stand up and fight in battles faced by the nation’s legal system, comments that come amid attacks on federal judges and President Donald Trump’s targeting of elite law firms in executive orders.
“Our job is to stand up for people who can’t do it themselves. And our job is to be the champion of lost causes,” she said. “But right now, we can’t lose the battles we are facing. And we need trained and passionate and committed lawyers to fight this fight.”
Sotomayor didn’t mention the president as she spoke at an event in the nation’s capital hosted by a section of the American Bar Association, which has also been targeted by Trump.
The liberal justice’s remarks come a day after conservative Chief Justice John Roberts defended judicial independence as necessary to “check the excesses of the Congress or the executive” at an appearance in Buffalo, New York.
George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley commented on this:
The “we” left many surprised and concerned that the jurist was rallying the left as a type of constituency. She declared “We need trained and passionate and committed lawyers to fight this fight. For me, being here with you is an act of solidarity.”
Clearly, such comments are subject to different interpretations. Newspapers like the New York Times made the obvious connection, stating that it was made “against the backdrop of immense stress on lawyers and the legal system from the Trump administration.”
The message was not lost on activists who heralded “Justice Sotomayor’s support for the aggressive pro-democracy movement is so important at this critical time.” Court-sanctioned lawyer and Democratic activist Marc Elias added, “She understands that while we must bring difficult cases and be willing to lose, we must always fight to win. And by lending her voice in ‘solidarity,’ she affirmed that it is ‘our time to stand up and be heard.’”
Won’t it be ironic if Trump gets to pick her successor in his second term?