Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Thursday urged faith in the judiciary and pushed back against recent accusations that judges act too politically.
Speaking to law students at the University of California, Berkeley, Sotomayor said it was “sad that the public has lost confidence in the judiciary” and “that so many people believe we’re politicized.”
“It’s not that the court has become politicized, but that society has,” Sotomayor said, according to SFGate.
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The judicial branch has been a frequent subject of President Trump’s ire since he was a candidate, and he has often accused judges of acting politically, rather than independently.
Last year, the real estate mogul launched an attack on U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was presiding over a class-action lawsuit against Trump University. Trump had made controversial and disparaging comments about Mexican immigrants. And Curiel, Trump alleged, was incapable of treating him fairly in the lawsuit because of his Mexican heritage.
The president also fiercely criticized judges during a series of legal challenges to his original Jan. 27 travel ban, calling the courts “so political” in a speech to law enforcement officials in February.
“I don’t ever want to call a court biased, so I won’t call it biased. And we haven’t had a decision yet,” he said. “But courts seem to be so political, and it would be so great for our justice system if they would be able to read a statement and do what’s right.”