While acknowledging that the United States is “in a patch of history that is very different than what many of us have experienced before,” the message of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Tuesday was one of resounding hope.
Sotomayor, a 2009 appointee of President Barack Obama, concluded a two-day visit to Lawrence with a speech to a packed Lied Center crowd of approximately 1,700.
When confirmed, she became just the third woman — and first Latina — to sit on the nation’s highest court.
Much of her remarks centered on how serving as the first Latina in the court’s history has impacted her time on the bench.
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“It wasn’t and isn’t about me. Being the first is a symbol to all that follow. It’s opening the door for others who can do what I’ve done and more,” she said. “I tell every young Latina that I meet, ‘One of you has to come take my place. One of you has to be president someday.’ It’s a special responsibility. We have to do it well; we have to work harder than other people do.”
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Sotomayor is one of just three justices of the nine-member court appointed by Democratic presidents. The court’s makeup has therefore placed her and her more liberal colleagues on the dissenting side of many pivotal issues in recent years.
Without specifically naming any colleagues, she spoke pointedly Tuesday of the importance of continued engagement with the law and specifically pointed to the impact that nationwide protests have had in recent weeks over issues such as immigration rights.
“Laws are made by people. Policies are made by people. Bad policies can be changed by people. And I think that’s what we all have to understand,” she said. “But bad laws can be changed by people. It takes an effort of everyone to make sure that we become a more perfect union by working at the things we don’t think are right.”
Tuesday’s event was moderated by Mary Murguía, the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and her twin sister, Janet Murguía, the president and CEO of UnidosUS, the nation’s largest nonprofit Latino civil rights advocacy organization.
Sotomayor concluded her remarks with her longest pause of the evening, stopping to ponder Janet Murguía’s question of how being on the Supreme Court has changed her.
“I think the biggest impact on me has been in understanding the beauty of this country. To have had an opportunity to be traveling to all parts of the country, meeting people who have lived lives so differently than me. The beauty of this country is staggering. The differences are astonishing,” she said.
“And yet, that we all are proud Americans is really an extraordinary feat by a nation. We have to hold on to that spirit of permitting our differences to exist while being united in building this more perfect union,” she continued. “There’s no other country in the world like us. We should be proud of that, but we should also treasure it and guard it and sustain it. There is no other part of the world who’s ever done this. There is no republican form of government that has survived as long as we have. To survive longer, we have to work at it. It doesn’t just happen.”
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Conner Mitchell (he/him), reporter, can be reached at cmitchell (at) lawrencekstimes (dot) com or 785-435-9264. If you have sensitive information to send Conner, please email connermitchell (at) protonmail (dot) com. Read more of his work for the Times here.
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