Justice Sonia Sotomayor lamented the Supreme Court‘s tilt to the right during a recent speaking event, saying she felt a “sense of despair” after the conservative majority reversed nearly 50 years of abortion access precedent under Roe v. Wade.
“I did have a sense of despair about the direction my court was going,” Sotomayor said, appearing via remote video feed before hundreds of law professors at the Association of American Law Schools’s annual meeting in San Diego.
Sotomayor, 68, has dissented from major cases, including last summer’s 6-3 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that allowed states to create laws severely restricting abortion access. She also said she was “shell-shocked” and “deeply sad” when the term ended in June.
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During the virtual speaking event, Sotomayor did not explicitly mention the Dobbs ruling, nor did she bring up the draft opinion that leaked to the public one month before the eventual decision was made on the matter.
As one of three members of the minority liberal bloc, she said she would persist as a voice of dissent against majority-conservative decisions that she disagrees with and expressed hope about the future of the court.
“It’s not an option to fall into despair,” Sotomayor said. “I have to get up and keep fighting.”
Sotomayor’s remarks come after the court heard oral arguments this fall for 27 cases that will eventually lead to major decisions over the fate of affirmative action, voting rights issues, and businesses refusing service to LGBTQ people based on sincerely held beliefs.
During December 2021 arguments in the Dobbs case, Sotomayor predicted it would be difficult for the high court to “survive the stench” if it upheld Mississippi’s 15-week ban on abortion.
“Will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts?” Sotomayor asked a lawyer supporting the Mississippi law. “I don’t see how it is possible.”
The majority’s decision in Dobbs was made by five Republican-appointed justices and written by Justice Samuel Alito, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing a concurrence signaling his preference for a narrower ruling that focused solely on upholding Mississippi’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks.
Since the June decision, multiple Republican-controlled states have implemented tight abortion measures, while public polling suggests the high court is facing lowered public confidence, according to Marquette University Law School.
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But while just 38% of respondents said they approved of the high court in July, data suggest approval is rising steadily after a subsequent Marquette poll in November showed 44% of respondents approve of the justices’ work, which matches levels surveyed between May 9 and 19, just days after a leaked opinion signaled the justices were poised to end Roe.
Results for the November poll were split along partisan lines, with 70% of Republicans approving but only 28% of Democrats approving. Just 40% of independents said they approved of the court’s work.
