After standing ovation for blistering dissent, Sotomayor urges people to read both sides
Source: USA Today
Sept. 10, 2025, 6:07 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON – Read the opinions for yourself. That’s the message Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor had Sept. 10 for viewers of the “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” the day after her blistering response to her conservative colleagues’ latest ruling siding with the Trump administration.
The majority said the administration can for now resume the indiscriminate immigration-related stops in southern California that sparked protests and charges of racial profiling. In her dissent for the court’s three liberals, Sotomayor said the majority’s decision “is yet another grave misuse of our emergency docket.”
“We should not have to live in a country where the Government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low wage job,” wrote Sotomayor, the first Latina on the court. “Rather than stand idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost, I dissent."
After Colbert read that portion of her 21-page pushback to his studio audience, they gave Sotomayor a standing ovation. “I have the whole thing if you’d like to read it right now,” the liberal host told Sotomayor. The justice had a better idea. “I want you to read it, and I want you to read the concurring opinion,” she said. “Too many people hear what a Supreme Court decision is, and they come to immediate conclusions based on what only their personal feelings are. You shouldn’t do that.”
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/09/10/supreme-court-sotomayor-dissent-stephen-colbert/86069764007/
Video clips of the appearance here - https://www.democraticunderground.com/132287864
= new reply since forum marked as read
He also co-hosted that fantastic rally 15 years ago with John Stewart -
We can’t read both opinions because all too often lately there is NOTHING to read!!!
The Court has issued many decisions via the so- called “Shadow Docket” which has no explanation of why they rule the way they did. This gives nothing to guide judges in future cases, and leaves the door open to for rulings that are always pro-Republican, even if they had just ruled the opposite in a similar case.
The Supremes are playing Calvinball.
https://calvinandhobbes.fandom.com/wiki/Calvinball