Justice Sotomayor warns about arbitrary power' as she defends the rule of law [View all]
Source: USA Today
Published 8:25 p.m. ET March 28, 2025 | Updated 8:44 p.m. ET March 28, 2025
WASHINGTON − Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor on Friday stressed the importance of an independent judiciary and the rule of law, warning in comments at a law school about “arbitrary power.” “Arbitrary power is just that, and it means that anyone is going to be subject to unfairness at someone else’s whim," she said during a conversation with students at Georgetown Law School. "You have to be worried about the day that will turn on you."
Sotomayor, the most senior of the court’s three liberal justices, did not mention any specific concern. But her comments came as President Donald Trump has called for impeaching a judge whose decision he disagreed with and has punished law firms whose lawyers have fought him in court.
Georgetown Law Dean William M. Treanor, who asked Sotomayor questions that students had submitted in advance, said students were most interested in the role of courts in safeguarding the rule of law. Sotomayor said protecting the rule of law includes society abiding by standards she said are fundamental to existence.
“Right now, I understand there’s a lot of questions about what that means and what are our common norms,” she said. “But once we lose our common norms, we’ve lost the rule of law completely.” Law schools and judges, she said, have to explain more than ever why judicial independence is critical to freedom. “The fact that some of our public leaders are lawyers making statements challenging the rule of law, tells me that fundamentally our law schools are failing,” she said.
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/03/28/justice-sotomayor-rule-of-law-trump/82712357007/
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