Sotomayor says she has civil relationship with 'virtually all' justices

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said in public remarks on April 9 that she has a civil relationship with "virtually all" of her fellow justices, and that she regards many of them as friends.

Sotomayor didn't name any particular justice with whom she doesn't have a civil relationship. She made the remarks in response to a law student's question about building bridges with her colleagues, while speaking at an event hosted by the University of Alabama School of Law.

"I dare say that with virtually all of them, I certainly have a civil relationship. And with many of them, I think I dare say that I have a friendship," Sotomayor said.

Sotomayor, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, is one of three justices on the Supreme Court who were appointed by Democratic presidents. The six remaining justices were appointed by Republican presidents. As a member of the court's liberal minority, Sotomayor often writes or joins dissents in cases involving hot-button political issues.

Two days earlier, on April 7, Sotomayor criticized Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, without naming him, according to Bloomberg Law.

Sotomayor reportedly described a concurring opinion Kavanaugh wrote when the Supreme Court ruled that federal immigration agents could continue stopping people based on a combination of factors, including their race, the language they speak, and their type of work, while a lawsuit challenging those practices continued.

"I had a colleague in that case who wrote, you know, these are only temporary stops," Sotomayor said, according to Bloomberg Law. "This is from a man whose parents were professionals. And probably doesn’t really know any person who works by the hour."

In her April 9 remarks, Sotomayor said her experience as a trial court judge has helped her to see the real people behind the cases she now rules on, but she isn't sure all her colleagues also see those people.

"I still see the people when I read the transcripts," Sotomayor said, referring to transcripts of proceedings that take place in a trial court, where individuals involved in the underlying events in a case can give testimony. "I don't know how many of my colleagues do."

"If I had my druthers, I would make every appellate judge have trial experience," Sotomayor added.

Of the nine sitting Supreme Court justices, only Sotomayor and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, an appointee of President Joe Biden, were previously trial court judges.