Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned about "the price we pay" during "The View" on Tuesday when asked about the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision and other recent rulings.
Co-host Sunny Hostin noted Sotomayor's warnings that rulings like overturning Roe v. Wade or allowing continued immigration raids in California would undermine public confidence in the Supreme Court.
"Why do you see these decisions as so dangerous to our freedoms? What do you think ordinary Americans should take away from what seem to be very prescient warnings?" Hostin asked Sotomayor.
Sotomayor urged Americans to read every opinion from the Court — both the majority and the dissent — to become more informed citizens.
"The price we pay is whatever is happening today, as I indicated, is going to affect a lot of people. But it affects your future. It affects the conduct of leaders in the future, because what we permit today is not going to be duplicated exactly tomorrow. It’s going to be something different," she began.
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor at Zarzuela Palace in Madrid on March 4, 2024. (Pablo Cuadra/Getty Images)
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"It'll be a different group of people. It'll be a different situation. But once we have approved it, it sets a precedent that can be, in your judgment, because in the end you are the people affected, right? Really bad. And that’s what’s at risk, is in each time we change precedent, we are changing the contours of a right that people thought they had. Once you take that away, think of how much more is at risk later. Not just in this situation," she added.
"The View" co-host Sara Haines asked Sotomayor earlier in the discussion about what surprised her the most about being on the Court.
"How hard each case is," Sotomayor said. "When you read a majority opinion, it sounds totally convincing. It does. Because for you to sign on to a decision, you have to believe what you are signing on to. Read the dissent. Read the other side, and it will tell you how hard these questions are. Don’t ever think there’s a simple answer. There isn’t."
Sotomayor added that there was "no winning" in court.
The U.S. Supreme Court building is seen in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 8, 2024. (Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty)
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"There’s one side wins, another side, what’s the opposite of win? Loses. The person who loses is losing something they thought was important. A right they had, a claim they thought justified. It is something that’s costing them. This is always a price we pay in court cases," she said.
Before President Donald Trump took office in January, some Democrats discussed calling for Sotomayor to retire to avoid allowing him to potentially appoint another Supreme Court justice.
Sotomayor was nominated by President Barack Obama in 2009 and confirmed that year. The liberal justice is one of only three current Supreme Court members nominated by a Democratic president.
The United States Supreme Court justices pose for their official portrait at the East Conference Room of the Supreme Court building on October 7, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)