As the supreme court upends precedent again and again, the liberal justices reveal the divisions within the legal body
On Friday, Justice Sonia Sotomayor delivered an acidic sermon against the court’s 6-3 decision to end lower courts’ practice of issuing nationwide injunctions to block federal executive orders, reading her dissent directly from the bench in a move meant to highlight its importance.
“No right is safe in the new legal regime the Court creates,” states Sotomayor’s dissent, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown-Jackson. “Today, the threat is to birthright citizenship. Tomorrow, a different administration may try to seize firearms from law abiding citizens or prevent people of certain faiths from gathering to worship.”
I genuinely feel bad for Justice Jackson. She is competent and thoughtful, and appears to appreciate how consequential the Supreme Court can be. She was an actual successful lawyer. I think she went into this expecting to make a difference, and, instead, we have the Roberts Court.
Feels a lot like being assigned to your bully for a class project. They’re not only gonna make you do all the work, they’re gonna make you feel like shit while doing it.
This is exactly what democracy feels like every time.