After speaking with zero conservative voices about politics last season, ABC’s The View sent a message that they were planning to continue that model on Tuesday’s episode. Their first guest of Season 29 was U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who was treated to a softball interview filled with gush about her opinions and dissent. At one point, co-host Joy Behar expressed a fear that Americans would soon not be able to read her dissents because cuts to the federal Department of Education would lead to no one being able to read at all.
Justice Sotomayor, on the show to hawk her latest children’s book, broached the topic of dissents early and seemed to scoff at the attention that majority opinions got and told viewers to seek out the dissents:
How hard each case is. Now, 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.
When former federal prosecutor and co-host Sunny Hostin noted that she was “writing a lot of [dissents] lately,” Sotomayor quipped: “More than I ever hoped.”
Hostin proceeded to hype the Justice’s hyperbolic dissent proclamations, gushing about her “very prescient warnings”:
HOSTIN: Yes. In Dobbs, you warned overturning Roe v. Wade would create a stench that the Supreme Court decisions are driven by politics and not law. And in your recent dissent, you said the court's recent ruling would allow agents – ICE agents to detain people just for looking Latino or speaking Spanish. Why do you see these decisions as so dangerous to our freedoms? And what do you think ordinary Americans should take away from what seem to be very prescient warnings?
SOTOMAYOR: Well, first of all, read the decisions and not just my dissents. But the other side too. Become informed citizens and not just reactive. Because people will say things that are simply not there or say things and misconstrue them. Read them yourself. Educate yourself as Americans.
Moderator Whoopi Goldberg, perhaps simply seeking an answer to her own ignorance, asked Sotomayor to explain “to regular folks” where her dissents could be found (Click “expand”):
SOTOMAYOR: Read my dissent.
GOLDBERG: Where can people find these dissents? Cause I think people always think they’re not available to regular folks. Is there a place to --
SOTOMAYOR: Online.
GOLDBERG: Online.
SOTOMAYOR: And you search online the way you search anything. “The Supreme Court’s decision yesterday.” You can start there. All right? “Sotomayor dissent yesterday.” “Noem,” that’s one of the names in the case. “The Noem Supreme Court decision.” Search bar, it will pop right up. The Supreme Court website, supremecourt.gov has all our decisions immediately when they’re issued.
It was then that Behar, dressed like the Justice's twin, interjected with her bizarre and erroneous fear that Americans were on track to be broadly illiterate. “But they keep de-funding the Department of Education. How are we going to read the dissents?” she asked to the silence of the table.
Faux conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin immediately stepped in with her own baseless fear:
FARAH GRIFFIN: There has been talk that Donald Trump might seek a third term in office. It's my personal belief that if he did the Republican Party would likely support him. I want to ask you; obviously, the 22nd Amendment prohibits somebody from seeking a third term in office. Do you believe the 22nd Amendment is settled law?
SOTOMAYOR: The Constitution is settled law. No one has tried to challenge that. Until somebody tries, you don't know. So, it's not settled, because we don't have a court case about that issue. But it is in the Constitution. And one should understand that there's nothing that is the greater law in the United States than the Constitution of the United States.
The View’s ridiculously gushy interview was kicked off by pretend independent Sara Haines winding up this softball about Perry Mason being Sotomayor’s inspiration to go to law school (Click “expand”):
HAINES: And I heard that watching episodes of Perry Mason influenced your decision to become a lawyer. Is that true?
SOTOMAYOR: It's absolutely true. Perry Mason and Nancy drew.
HAINES: I love Nancy Drew!
HOSTIN: Yes! Nancy Drew!
SOTOMAYOR: And Nancy Drew. There's enough people of my age in the audience to remember Nancy Drew.
[Applause]
BEHAR: She was a detective.
SOTOMAYOR: Amateur detective. And she got me interested in law and thinking about it. And then Perry Mason sealed the deal.
Sotomayor’s conservative colleague, Justice Amy Coney Barrett also had a new book out (a memoir) but was not lined up to be a guest on The View, according to their tickets request page.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
September 9, 2025
11:25:37 a.m. Eastern(…)
SARA HAINES: Welcome to the show.
JUSTICE SONIA SOTOMAYOR (U.S. Supreme Court): Thank you.
HAINES: You are starting your 17th year as a justice on the Supreme Court.
[Applause]
And I heard that watching episodes of Perry Mason influenced your decision to become a lawyer. Is that true?
SOTOMAYOR: It's absolutely true. Perry Mason and Nancy drew.
HAINES: I love Nancy Drew!
SUNNY HOSTIN: Yes! Nancy Drew!
SOTOMAYOR: And Nancy Drew. There's enough people of my age in the audience to remember Nancy Drew.
[Applause]
JOY BEHAR: She was a detective.
SOTOMAYOR: Amateur detective. And she got me interested in law and thinking about it. And then Perry Mason sealed the deal.
[Laughter]
HAINES: You spend your days weighing in on the biggest issues of our time. From immigration to guns, education, and even the limits of executive power. Now, I know you can't talk about the specifics. But knowing the weight a Supreme Court decision holds, what has surprised you the most about the court?
SOTOMAYOR: How hard each case is. Now, 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.
First of all, the cases come to the Supreme Court only because judges across the country have disagreed. What we call a circuit split. Reasonable people of all backgrounds have disagreed. And then we get the case. So, there's no easy answer.
BEHAR: It's always been like that, right?
SOTOMAYOR: Always been like that.
BEHAR: It's nothing new.
SOTOMAYOR: No, no. It’s nothing new. Maybe the outcomes are new sometimes, but not the process. The process is hard.
And the other thing is, there's no winning in court. There's one side wins, another side -- what's the opposite of win? Loses. And the person who loses is losing something they thought it 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. So, that – Yes, that's surprised me.
HAINES: That’s a very thoughtful answer. Thank you.
SOTOMAYOR: No, no. I thought when I was on the lower courts that it was easy, cause somebody was above me to correct our mistakes, my mistakes. Not now.
BEHAR: The buck stops with you.
SOTOMAYOR: The buck stops with us.
HOSTIN: Well, Justice Sotomayor, speaking of dissents, which you seem to be writing a lot of lately --
SOTOMAYOR: More than I ever hoped.
HOSTIN: Yes. In Dobbs, you warned overturning Roe v. Wade would create a stench that the Supreme Court decisions are driven by politics and not law. And in your recent dissent, you said the court's recent ruling would allow agents – ICE agents to detain people just for looking Latino or speaking Spanish. Why do you see these decisions as so dangerous to our freedoms? And what do you think ordinary Americans should take away from what seem to be very prescient warnings?
SOTOMAYOR: Well, first of all, read the decisions and not just my dissents. But the other side too. Become informed citizens and not just reactive. Because people will say things that are simply not there or say things and misconstrue them. Read them yourself. Educate yourself as Americans.
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. And 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. It will be a different group of people. It will be a different situation. But once we have approved it, it sets a precedent that can be, in your judgment – cause 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. And once you take that away, think of how much more is at risk later. Not just in this situation.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: And we know you can't comment on legal cases pending. As Sunny said, you know, the ruling yesterday about ICE raids, I’m just curious, how are they going to know who is who?
SOTOMAYOR: Read my dissent.
GOLDBERG: Where can people find these dissents? Cause I think people always think they’re not available to regular folks. Is there a place to --
SOTOMAYOR: Online.
GOLDBERG: Online.
SOTOMAYOR: And you search online the way you search anything. “The Supreme Court’s decision yesterday.” You can start there. All right? “Sotomayor dissent yesterday.” “Noem,” that’s one of the names in the case. “The Noem Supreme Court decision.” Search bar, it will pop right up. The Supreme Court website, supremecourt.gov has all our decisions immediately when they’re issued. So, you don’t even have to wait for the -
BEHAR: But they keep de-funding the Department of Education. How are we going to read the dissents?
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: Justice, I do want to get in because we’re short on time. There has been talk that Donald Trump might seek a third term in office. It's my personal belief that if he did the Republican Party would likely support him. I want to ask you; obviously, the 22nd Amendment prohibits somebody from seeking a third term in office. Do you believe the 22nd Amendment is settled law?
SOTOMAYOR: The Constitution is settled law. No one has tried to challenge that. Until somebody tries, you don't know. So, it's not settled, because we don't have a court case about that issue. But it is in the Constitution. And one should understand that there's nothing that is the greater law in the United States than the Constitution of the United States.
(…)