Sotomayor: ‘We can’t lose the battles we are facing’

Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor reportedly told hundreds of lawyers at an American Bar Association event in Washington that she and the attendees have a responsibility to stand up for people who “can’t do it themselves.” MARK SCHIEFELBEIN/AP

Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor said at an event that “we can’t lose the battles we are facing,” according to The New York Times.

She reportedly told hundreds of lawyers at an American Bar Association event in Washington that she and the attendees have a responsibility to stand up for people who “can’t do it themselves.”

“We need trained and passionate and committed lawyers to fight this fight,” Sotomayor said, according to the newspaper. “For me, being here with you is an act of solidarity.”

The justice, who was nominated to the Supreme Court by then-President Barack Obama in May 2009, has been on the high court since Aug. 8, 2009. Sotomayor added during the event, which was an awards ceremony, that “if you’re not used to fighting, and losing battles, then don’t become a lawyer.”

Sotomayor was speaking at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, part of the Smithsonian Institution. The museum has a stated mission of helping Americans see how “global influences” shape and inform their “stories,” “histories” and “cultures.”

She was nominated to the Supreme Court by then-President Barack Obama in May 2009. She has been on the high court since Aug. 8, 2009.

President Donald Trump said in March the Smithsonian has “come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.” He issued an executive order that directed members of the institution’s Board of Regents to remove “improper ideology” from the Smithsonian’s museums. The executive order threatened to pull federal funding from exhibits and programs the Tadministration believes “degrade shared American values” or “divide Americans based on race.”

Sotomayor, differing from Trump in her language, said during Thursday’s event that “diversity is important for its own sake, because it inspires everyone to believe it is possible for them to be in a position to help others.”

The president also issued an order earlier this year in which he directed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek punishments against attorneys who engage in “frivolous, unreasonable and vexatious litigation” against the government. Too many lawyers have pursued “baseless partisan attacks,” Trump said, adding in other directives that there has been “judicial overreach” as well.

The president said in a March 11 executive order that “activist judges,” which he says exist throughout the country, have engaged in “wrongly issues” injunctions.

Supreme Court Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson told the attendees of a judges’ conference recently that Trump has been attacking the judiciary in an effort to intimidate it, according to Reuters.

“The threats and harassment are attacks on our democracy, on our system of government,” she reportedly said. “And they ultimately risk undermining our Constitution and the rule of law.”

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