Sotomayor Warns Reversals May Undermine Faith in Legal System
(Bloomberg) -- US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the court risks undermining the country’s faith in the legal system when it rushes to overturn its precedents.
Most Read from Bloomberg
Ukraine Latest: Biden Says Missile Likely Not Fired From Russia
Poland Says Russian-Made Missile Hit Territory and Killed Two People
Biden Says Unlikely Rocket That Hit Poland Was Fired From Russia
In a conversation sponsored by the nonprofit Connecticut Forum Tuesday, Sotomayor alluded to the court’s June 24 decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion, without explicitly discussing the ruling.
“Justices have to proceed with a great deal of caution because people rely on the stability of the law in believing and having faith that the judicial system is not prone to politics,” said Sotomayor, who dissented in the abortion case.
Sotomayor’s comments followed more pointed remarks made by another liberal justice, Elena Kagan, who suggested in a series of recent appearances that the conservative-dominated court was squandering its legitimacy by overruling precedents.
During arguments in the abortion case, Sotomayor asked whether the court would “survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts.”
She said Tuesday the “stench” comment “gets at perhaps what Justice Kagan was fearful of.”
Sotomayor made her remarks in a question-and-answer session with the journalist Soledad O’Brien. The 68-year-old justice spoke via video hookup.
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
North America’s EV Future Hinges on a North Carolina Turtle Pond
Google’s Moonshot Lab Is Now in the Strawberry-Counting Business
How Apple Stores Went From Geek Paradise to Union Front Line
Twitter’s Layoffs Are the Perfect Example of How Not to Fire People
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
