LOUISVILLE, Ky. — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor pointed to her conservative colleagues’ willingness to upend decades-old precedents when asked Wednesday night about sagging public confidence in the court.
“I think my court would probably gather more public support if it went a little more slowly in undoing precedent,” Sotomayor said during an appearance in Louisville.
The conservative-led court — reshaped by three justices nominated by Republican President Donald Trump — overturned Roe v. Wade, ending nationwide protections for abortion rights. And it struck down affirmative action in college admissions, effectively overturning cases reaching back decades.
Sotomayor, a member of the court’s liberal minority, didn’t delve into the precedent-busting cases during the Louisville event, but said the public doesn’t like it when the court “moves too quickly in upheavals.”
“I think that creates instability in the society, in people’s perception of law and people’s perception of whether we’re doing things because of legal analysis or because of partisan views,” she said. “Whether those views are accurate or not, I don’t accuse my colleagues of being partisan.”
She said they “genuinely have a belief in a certain way of looking at the constitution.”
“And I understand, in good faith, that they think that that belief better promotes our democracy,” she said. “But whether that’s true or not is irrelevant if people are feeling insecure in the changes that they’re instituting at a pace that they can’t absorb.”
When the courts go too far too fast, there’s going to be public pushback, Sotomayor said.
“If we continue going in directions that the public is going to find hard to understand, we’re placing the court at risk,” she said. “So I think we have to proceed slowly in overturning precedent.”
Sotomayor defended the judiciary as the most transparent of government institutions.
“Because generally we don’t make backroom deals,” she said. “Meaning our judges are required to explain their rulings. You have to have a written explanation why you think what you’re doing comports with the law.”
Asked what she loves about her job, Sotomayor said she likes being in the room — an active participant — where important decisions are made, and that “being a voice, even when I lose, has meaning,”
“Speaking what I see as what the law requires is important,” she said. “It needs to be articulated. It needs to be heard by the others, even if they don’t agree with me.”
Sotomayor said she savors those times when she’s able to win over colleagues on a legal matter.
“As infrequent as those moments have been in recent times, they still exist — on occasion.” she said. “And so for those moments, that’s why I keep going.”
Sotomayor spent more than an hour answering questions from the the dean of the University of Louisville law school. Sotomayor was in Louisville to receive the law school’s Brandeis Medal, presented to people in the legal profession for their work advancing public service and their devotion to economic, social or political justice. UofL’s law school is named for Louis D. Brandeis, a former Supreme Court justice from Louisville.
Sotomayor was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Barack Obama in 2009.
Speaking earlier at the Louisville event, Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear said the Supreme Court holds “a sacred duty to rule without bias or favor to any person or party.”
Beshear said the justices “make up the backbone of our democracy — that’s the rule of law. This is the very foundation of a functional system of government, one that’s designed to serve the people and not just the powerful.” Beshear, a former state attorney general now in his second term as governor, is widely seen by political commentators as a potential candidate for the White House in 2028.