Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor addressed students at Georgetown University, emphasizing the importance of judges maintaining “fierce independence” in light of increasing challenges to the rule of law.
During a forum held on Friday, Sotomayor highlighted the necessity for judges to ensure that the state respects both judicial independence and the constitutional rights of individuals.
Although Sotomayor did not specifically reference President Donald Trump or his criticism of judges who ruled against him in numerous lawsuits challenging his executive orders, she did express concerns about the nation’s perceived decline in adherence to “common norms.” These norms, she noted, are essential for the justice system to function effectively.
In a discussion with William Treanor, the dean of Georgetown’s law school, Sotomayor stated, “Once we lose our common norms, we’ve lost the rule of law completely.”
On the same day, President Trump requested that the Supreme Court permit his administration to resume the deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members without holding hearings.
The president contends that he has the authority to do so under a 1798 law historically employed only during wartime. The deportations have been suspended since March 15, following an incident where the administration dispatched two planes carrying migrants to a prison in El Salvador, despite a judge’s verbal directive to return the aircraft.
President Trump and his aides have repeatedly criticized judges for obstructing parts of his broader agenda. Earlier in the month, the president posted on social media that the judge involved in the deportation case was a “Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator” and called for the judge’s impeachment.
Subsequent to these remarks, Chief Justice John Roberts issued an unusual statement, asserting that the impeachment of federal judges is “not an appropriate response” to disagreements with their rulings.
