Liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has revealed that she is sometimes brought to tears in her chambers after certain decisions are made.
Sotomayor, 69, made the revelation Friday during a lecture at Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute, where she received an award.
“There are days when I would come to my office after a case announcement and close my door and cry,” Sotomayor said.
“There have been days like that. And there will probably be more.”
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Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has revealed that she sometimes cries in her chambers after some Supreme Court decisions have been handed down. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The judge did not say which cases she was specifically referring to, but the court has made several landmark decisions in recent years that are considered major victories for conservatives, including the landmark 2022 decision. Dobbs abortion decision. The Court in June 2022 struck down New York's previous concealed carry law, which required an individual to demonstrate “proper cause” before a permit to carry would be issued.
Sotomayor's gloom about future decisions signals that there may be more big victories for conservatives in the coming weeks as the court closes out its term. The Court is expected to rule on former President Donald Trump's immunity case, along with two abortion cases. The Court will also decide whether prosecutors can use a federal obstruction statute to charge rioters involved in the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
“There are times when I am deeply, deeply sad,” Sotomayor continued. “There are times when, yes, even I feel despair.”
'We all do that. But you have to acknowledge it, you have to accept it, you have to shed the tears, and then you have to wipe them away and stand up,” she said.
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Anti-abortion protesters celebrate outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, June 24, 2022. (AP)
Sotomayor's comments came at the end of a public conversation with Martha Minow, a former dean of Harvard Law School and human rights scholar.
The court has moved firmly to the right in recent years after former President Trump appointed three judges to the court during his one term.
Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch replaced the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh replaced the retiring conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy. Judge Amy Coney Barrett was Trump's last choice – to succeed left-wing heroine Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg – although President Biden could appoint Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to replace Judge Stephen Breyer.
Sotomayor, whose parents are Puerto Rican and who is the first Latina to serve on the Supreme Court, urged optimism and a focus on future generations.
She was nominated to the court by former President Barack Obama in 2008 and is one of three judges appointed to the court by Democrats, alongside Jackson and Justice Elena Kagan.
Although the court is seen as having a 6-3 right-wing majority, all nine justices agreed in a ruling earlier this year that the 14th Amendment does not allow states to remove presidential candidates from the ballot, rejecting the state of Colorado's attempt. to keep former President Trump from their presidential bid for this year's election.
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The current members of the United States Supreme Court (Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States via Getty Images)
There have been calls in recent months, including in op-eds like this one published in the Atlantic, that Sotomayor should retire under the Biden administration. The recent push for the judge's resignation comes ahead of the presidential election, with left-wing pundits and academics claiming that President Biden and the Democratic-controlled Senate could approve a nominee before the presidential election.
Sotomayor was born the same year as Brown v. Board of Education. She grew up in a housing project in the Bronx in New York City and was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 8.
She was among the majority that twice upheld the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).
Fox News' Emma Colton contributed to this report.
