Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor — without mentioning President Donald Trump's name — appeared during remarks at Georgetown University to be pushing back against his attacks on the legal system and said the country is going through a "troubling" amount of disrespect for the courts, attorneys, and judges.
"One of the things that's troubling so many right now is many of the standards that are being changed right now were norms that governed officials into what was right and wrong," Sotomayor, the senior liberal justice on the court, said during an appearance at the university's law center in Washington, D.C., on Friday, reports Politico.
She added that "once norms are broken, then you're shaking some of the foundation of the rule of law."
The administration has appealed to the Supreme Court for rulings on several cases in which judges have ruled against Trump's actions on government cutbacks and deportations.
It is seeking relief on a court order blocking the administration from firing thousands of probationary workers; on District of Columbia Judge James Boasberg's order preventing Trump from using an 18th century law to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members; and to rein in district court judges from blocking his policies nationally.
Chief Justice John Roberts last week rebuked Trump for calling for the impeachment of Boasberg and others who have ruled against him.
Much of Sotomayor's criticism was aimed at the president's appointee and congressional supporters who hold law degrees and have amplified Trump's calls to impeach judges and joined in personally attacking judges blocking the president's plans.
"Law schools … are not doing enough to teach about the meaning of the rule of law," she said during remarks with Georgetown law Dean William Treanor. "They have not done enough to teach about our respect for the Constitution. The fact that some of our public leaders are lawyers advocating or making statements challenging the rule of law tells me that, fundamentally, our law schools are failing."
The justice noted that she is often in dissent in Supreme Court cases, with conservative justices outnumbering liberals by 6-3.
For example, she dissented in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the 2002 decision overturning the Roe v. Wade decision on the constitutional right to abortion.
Sotomayor said that the case is a reminder that decisions she sees as being wrong are not permanent.
"As we know from recent events, the court does change its mind, so, this is not without hope," Sotomayor said.
Eroding the independence in the judicial branch will also undermine the rule of law, Sotomayor, who President Barack Obama appointed to the high court in 2009, warned.
"We have to get up and explain and repeat and explain again why judicial independence is critical to everyone's freedom, because arbitrary power is just that, and it means that anyone is going to be subject to unfairness at someone else's whim," she said. "The fact that you may like the use of arbitrary power against someone else at the moment, and you can target whomever you want at any moment, you have to be worried about the day that will turn on you."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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