{"id":108263,"date":"2025-02-12T16:02:40","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T00:02:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/02\/12\/sonia-sotomayor-wildly-out-of-touch-with-trumps-america\/"},"modified":"2025-02-12T16:02:40","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T00:02:40","slug":"sonia-sotomayor-wildly-out-of-touch-with-trumps-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/02\/12\/sonia-sotomayor-wildly-out-of-touch-with-trumps-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Sonia Sotomayor Wildly Out Of Touch With Trump\u2019s America"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
(Photo by Allison Shelley\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The rule of law, and the judges who uphold it, is under attack by the current Trump administration. Executive orders with dubious constitutional backing are flying from the Donald\u2019s pen, and there\u2019s a certified avalanche of litigation trying to limit the executive\u2019s power grab. And the federal bench has, thus far, responded admirably. Judge<\/a> after judge<\/a> \u2014 even those appointed by Republicans<\/a> \u2014 are holding the constitutional line<\/a> and blocking, or at least pausing<\/a>, the maneuvering<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the right doesn\u2019t like that<\/a> \u2014 like, at all. And there\u2019s been a wave of attacks<\/a>, mercifully rhetorical, against judges and the legal system. It\u2019s led some to wonder \u2014 and fear <\/a>\u2014 what exactly will happen if the Trump administration pulls a Bartleby the Scrivener and just\u2026 prefers not to follow a court order.<\/p>\n

That (increasingly likely) scenario is not super concerning to one person \u2014 Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. As reported by<\/a> HuffPost, at an event at Miami Dade College, Sotomayor expressed trust in the system that honestly feels unearned in the year of our lord 2025:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cCourt decisions stand, whether one particular person chooses to abide by them or not, it doesn\u2019t change the foundation that it\u2019s still a court order that someone will respect at some point,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s the faith I have in our system.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Sotomayor has more faith in the court system than Taylor Swift has in *that* bodysuit.<\/p>\n

\"\"
(Photo by Tom Cooper\/TAS23\/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She continued, noting, \u201cWe\u2019ve had moments where it\u2019s been tested, but by and large we have been a country who has understood that the rule of law has helped us maintain our democracy,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it\u2019s also because the court has proceeded cautiously.\u201d<\/p>\n

Methinks our country is already in the midst of another big test, and we\u2019re not at all prepared for it.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Sonia Sotomayor Wildly Out Of Touch With Trump\u2019s America<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
(Photo by Allison Shelley\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The rule of law, and the judges who uphold it, is under attack by the current Trump administration. Executive orders with dubious constitutional backing are flying from the Donald\u2019s pen, and there\u2019s a certified avalanche of litigation trying to limit the executive\u2019s power grab. And the federal bench has, thus far, responded admirably. Judge<\/a> after judge<\/a> \u2014 even those appointed by Republicans<\/a> \u2014 are holding the constitutional line<\/a> and blocking, or at least pausing<\/a>, the maneuvering<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the right doesn\u2019t like that<\/a> \u2014 like, at all. And there\u2019s been a wave of attacks<\/a>, mercifully rhetorical, against judges and the legal system. It\u2019s led some to wonder \u2014 and fear <\/a>\u2014 what exactly will happen if the Trump administration pulls a Bartleby the Scrivener and just\u2026 prefers not to follow a court order.<\/p>\n

That (increasingly likely) scenario is not super concerning to one person \u2014 Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. As reported by<\/a> HuffPost, at an event at Miami Dade College, Sotomayor expressed trust in the system that honestly feels unearned in the year of our lord 2025:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cCourt decisions stand, whether one particular person chooses to abide by them or not, it doesn\u2019t change the foundation that it\u2019s still a court order that someone will respect at some point,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s the faith I have in our system.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Sotomayor has more faith in the court system than Taylor Swift has in *that* bodysuit.<\/p>\n

\"\"
(Photo by Tom Cooper\/TAS23\/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She continued, noting, \u201cWe\u2019ve had moments where it\u2019s been tested, but by and large we have been a country who has understood that the rule of law has helped us maintain our democracy,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it\u2019s also because the court has proceeded cautiously.\u201d<\/p>\n

Methinks our country is already in the midst of another big test, and we\u2019re not at all prepared for it.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @[email\u00a0protected].<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Photo by Allison Shelley\/Getty Images) The rule of law, and the judges who uphold it, is under attack by the current Trump administration. Executive orders with dubious constitutional backing are flying from the Donald\u2019s pen, and there\u2019s a certified avalanche of litigation trying to limit the executive\u2019s power grab. And the federal bench has, thus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":108264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-yRc5zX.jpeg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}