Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor vented about being “tired” from her demanding workload on the high court as well as her “frustration” with the conservative-dominated bench.
Speaking to a group of students at the University of California, Berkley School of Law, the 69-year-old jurist opened up about the vicissitudes of serving on the court while increasingly in the political crosshairs.
“Cases are bigger. They’re more demanding. The number of amici are greater, and you know that our emergency calendar is so much more active. I’m tired,” she said, per Bloomberg Law.
“There used to be a time when we had a good chunk of the summer break. Not anymore. The emergency calendar is busy almost on a weekly basis.”
Sotomayor had been elevated to the Supreme Court by former President Barack Obama back in 2009. She was the first woman of color and Latina to ascend to the highest court in the land.
One of the three justices appointed by Democrats to the nine-member panel, Sotomayor often finds herself in the minority on hot-button cases such as abortion, guns, and affirmative action.
She alluded to those conservative victories during her discussion with UC Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky.
“I live in frustration. Every loss truly traumatizes me in my stomach and in my heart,” Sotomayor admitted, per the report. “But I have to get up the next morning and keep on fighting.”
“To be almost 70 years old, this isn’t what I expected,” she said, Fox News reported. “But it is still work that is all consuming and I understand the impact the court has on people and on the country, and sometimes the world. And so it is what keeps me going.”
Recently, Sotomayor again found herself at odds with the decision to permit Alabama’s execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith via nitrogen gas.
“Having failed to kill Smith on its first attempt, Alabama has selected him as its `guinea pig’ to test a method of execution never attempted before,” she fumed in her dissent. “The world is watching.”
In response to a question about collaborating with colleagues with whom she often differs, Sotomayor replied, “If you look for the good in people, you can deal with the bad more easily.”
“What choice do you have but to fight the good fight?” she said at another point. “You can’t throw up your hands and walk away. And that’s not a choice. That’s an abdication. That’s giving up.”
Some progressives have tried to nudge the liberal justice to contemplate stepping down, fearing a repeat of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who stayed on during the Obama administration even when Democrats controlled the Senate.
Ginsburg died in September 2020, giving former President Donald Trump the opening to replace her with Justice Amy Coney Barrett, enlargening the conservative majority.
At 69, Sotomayor is the fourth oldest member on the bench. Justice Clarence Thomas is currently both the oldest member at 75 and the longest-serving justice.
“Change never happens on its own. Change happens because people care about moving the arc of the universe towards justice,” Sotomayor said, per KTVU. “It’s your turn now, to carry that burden.”