Sotomayor: Threat to Supreme Court unprecedented due to partisanship

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor this week warned of the negative impact that partisanship could have on the court. 

“As norms of the nomination process are broken, as more senators, congressional representatives, governors, mayors, local politicians, and the media question the legitimacy of the court, the threat is greater and unprecedented than any time in our history,” Sotomayor said Wednesday during a virtual address to New York University Law School, according to ABC News.

Her remarks come as President Biden looks to replace Justice Stephen Breyer, who announced he would retire from the Supreme Court last month. Biden has pledged to fill Breyer’s place with a nominee who is a Black woman, a decision that has received some criticism from the right.

“The more partisan the voting becomes, the less belief that the public is likely to have that Congress is making a merit-based or qualifications-based assessment of judicial nominees,” Sotomayor added.

“We have an obligation to keep open minds,” the justice also said, “that we are willing to change with time and experience. If we don’t show it, people will believe — perhaps wrongly — that we are just political creatures and not independent judges.”

She also said that “the history of the court has been filled with justices changing their doctrinal views over time.”

Last month, reports indicated that tensions over masking were heightened between Sotomayor, who will become the court’s most senior liberal justice upon Breyer’s retirement, and fellow Justice Neil Gorsuch, a member of the court’s conservative bloc.

But the justices issued a joint statement at the time denying the feud. 

“Reporting that Justice Sotomayor asked Justice Gorsuch to wear a mask surprised us. It is false,” their statement said. 

“While we may sometimes disagree about the law, we are warm colleagues and friends,” they added.