Sotomayor says she feels ‘frustration’ daily as conservative justices move US to right
Sotomayor says she feels ‘frustration’ daily as conservative justices move US to right
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said Monday she feels daily “frustration” as conservative justices move the country to the ideological right. In an appearance at the University of Califo…
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said Monday she feels daily “frustration” as conservative justices move the country to the ideological right.
In an appearance at the University of California, Berkely School of Law, Sotomayor was asked how she copes with the consistently conservative rulings from the court.
“Every loss truly traumatizes me,” but “I get up the next morning,” she said in response to the question, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. The crowd — about 1,300 students — applauded.
In her remarks, she criticized her “originalist colleagues” whom she said have come up with “new ways to interpret the Constitution,” changing rulings “that some of us believed were well established,” the Chronicle reported.
The 6-3 conservative court has had an eventful couple of terms, making its mark on some of the most consequential aspects of everyday life — from overturning the federal right to an abortion to ruling affirmative action in colleges unconstitutional.
Expand the court. "But republicans will do the same" you might say. To that I say "okay, let the court be a million judges to show just how shitty and ridiculous it is, let it collapse under its own stupidity. Besides, the conservatives already control the court, so there's really nothing to lose."
Make every US citizen a justice upon turning the minimum age for a Supreme Court justice.
Upon learning this in High School I was baffelled... There are no requirements to being a Supreme Court justice in the constitution. Simply that you are appointed by the president, and Congress confirms you. You don't need a background in law at all. There is no age requirement at all. There aren't even citizenship requirements. By the Constitution, Biden could appoint Gretta Thornburg to the Supreme Court, and Congress could confirm her, and we would have Justice Thornburg for the next 70-odd years.
https://www.findingalawyer.org/supreme-court-justice-qualifications/
My favored tactic is to -- Bam! Expand the court to 11 in one year, than 13 in two. Nuke the filibuster if you have to.
Then Democrats can sit down with Republicans and say "You can let us appoint 4 justices to lifetime terms and wait until you get the Presidency and both houses of Congress to expand it more, or you can work with us to pass an amendment to set up term limits and other reforms so the SC is no longer a political football".
Permanently Deleted
The main issue is confirmations. If enough Republicans hold the Senate, they can stall confirmation until their guy comes into office and then stuff the court further.
Just ignore what they say if you don't like it.
If enough people do this, they won't have any power. They literally cannot arrest us all.
Look at what we did with marijuana.
That said, this really only applies to states' rights. California can disobey the supreme court without repercussion. Women can't disobey abortion bans in their states unless the vast majority of them band together.
The problem with that is, if the vast majority of them banded together then they could remove the bans in the first place.
What was it that "we did with marijuana"? Because there are a shit load of people in prison that would be happy to know that the problem has been fixed.
Edit: lol at this being controversial. Just to clarify: we haven't fixed shit with respect to cannabis. We've barely put a band-aid on the problem. Yes I'm glad some states have explicitly gone against federal law, but you're ignorant as fuck if you think we fixed the problem in any way.
NO position should ever be for life. It's ridiculous that we have 70/80/90 year olds running things forever until they die. They should retire and let the next generation take the reins. Age and term limits. Courts should not be able to be packed like this. Nothing should.
They should also probably be held to some ethical standards, but that's too much for the nation's most powerful court/justices. Nevermind the US code of conduct says justices are to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.
But who needs a functional government or justice system? It's just keeping big business from making even more money, and destroying the planet faster.
Australian High Court justices have an age limit.
I’ve long held that if a “life sentence” in prison is 20 years, then 20 years should be the lifetime term of a SC justice.
Limits on age and terms, as well as tests for competency and ethics, would also be great additions. It’s kind of amazing this isn’t already a thing.
Not like she can do anything either. If she steps down now, Biden replaces her, demographics of the court stay the same.
All she can do is hang on until Thomas and Alito are replaced and hope that happens under a Democratic President
That will flip the court from 6-3 conservative to 5-4 liberal, but then the problem is the next 3 oldest justices are Sotomayor, Roberts and Kagen.
The truly frustrating thing about all of this is that the courts composition can be changed by acts of congress. The republicans pulled some massive bullshit to get this court. Biden could run with the campaign promise to unfuck the Supreme Court. This would be massively popular. Just add justices to rebalance the court. It can be done.
She could take out one of her colleagues. She's right there in the room with them. They'd never see it coming.
She would have to do it after the election or they’ll pull a repeat of Scalia/Garland.
Could go big and hit three of them. What’s an extra 2 life sentences, am I right?
She's a 69 year old type 1 diabetic...
You know what the average lifespan for a type 1 diabetic woman is?
68 years old...
She should have stepped down immediately and let Biden replace her. Instead if Biden keeps fucking up, trump could very likely get another.
If she were more worried about the country than her own position she would have stepped down. And yes I know this throws shade on RBG. I'm still fucking angry she didn't step down before it was too late. It's not like she didn't have plenty of warning. I judge the justices by their actions and it seems they don't give enough of a shit. And now the rest of us pay the price.
I was in DC recently, and I saw Ruth’s grave, and just wish she knew the legacy she created.
What legacy is that? She wasn't the first to die in the office?
OK so she wasn’t the first to put her own personal legacy ahead of the good of people, so it’s all good then?
If she had simply step aside and let Obama replace her, we would not have this packed illegitimate Supreme Court.
That selfish decision continues to make waves, and those waves continue to hurt us the people. Those waves hurt the rights of women who once look to RBG as an icon.
Well, I suppose she is still an icon, an icon for selfishness and personal pride over the good of the entire fucking nation.
Oh but she wasn’t the first so it’s okay!
Eh, civil disobedience is making a comeback.
These fucks are going to learn real quick how the social contract is a two-way agreement.
They'll have to push REALLY, REALLY far before they actually motivate most people to resist.
You know... legally speaking, she is allowed to kill the other justices.
Boomers dying out will be the best thing for this country.
I don't think Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett are Boomers. (Kavanaugh IS within months though.)
We're making them as fast as they are dying. The youth have been crippled by the greed of the old for generations.
Yeah, welcome to the fucking club.
No mention that the supreme court is about to dismantle democratic control over agencies. There is a big power grab underway to deregulate everything and cripple government. Only know of it from here:
Damn, I feel like she opened up a lot more than SCOTUS judges typically do. That’s telling.
I can't imagine how frustrating it must be
I wonder if she thinks she should have worked harder at convincing RBG to retire sooner. You know, when Obama was president.
This is rich coming from someone who consistently votes left of "constitutionalist". She's just angry she's losing.
There is a vast chasm between constitutionalist and originalist. Sotomeyer sticks to the Constitution but not the original intent ... and that's as it should be.
Then she should vote for the people more.
Conservatives are not the majority in the USA
Yes I'm sure both sides get upset when they're out numbered and cant get their legislationthrough. Unfortunately it's the way the system is setup and she's been on both ends. This isn't something she should be complaining about.
She hasn’t been on both ends. She’s always been on the minority side.
There has never been a leftist US supreme court, regardless of what fantasy you've concocted in Enlightened Centrismland