Sonia Sotomayor

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At Supreme Court, an Unprecedented Move

5 justices recuse themselves from alleged plagiarism case following a new code of ethics

(Newser) - Ta-Nehisi Coates and Oprah Winfrey are celebrating a court victory delivered through an unprecedented move by the US Supreme Court. The court had been set to hear a copyright dispute involving claims that Coates' The Water Dancer, an Oprah's Book Club selection, plagiarized from Ralph W. Baker, Jr.'...

Sotomayor Sounds Call for Judicial Independence

Trump goes unmentioned, though justice criticizes lawyers joining attacks on the rule of law

(Newser) - The week after Chief Justice John Roberts defended the judiciary from President Trump's demand that a judge be impeached for ruling against him, another justice has called for ensuring that judges are "fearlessly independent." Speaking to students at Georgetown Law School on Friday evening, USA Today reports,...

Senate Loss Raises Question for Democrats

Time is running out to nominate and confirm a successor before the GOP takes control

(Newser) - As Democrats look around for steps to take before they lose control of the White House and Senate in January, their gaze has fallen on Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Even if she resigns, nominating and confirming a Democratic pick to succeed the 70-year-old would be difficult and appears unlikely,...

Carjacker Shot Near Sotomayor's Home by Her Security

Suspect does not appear to have any connection to the Supreme Court justice

(Newser) - A member of the security detail for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor shot an armed man amid an attempted carjacking last week, according to sources and a recently unsealed charging document. US marshals, wearing shirts that identified them as such, were sitting in an unmarked car outside the justice's...

Biden Tells Nation Court Ruling Removes Limits on Presidents

Brief remarks from White House include a warning that Trump could ignore the law

(Newser) - President Biden told the nation Monday night that the Supreme Court's immunity ruling issued earlier in the day means "there are virtually no limits" now on a president's actions. In brief remarks from the White House, Biden said the court majority enacted "a fundamentally new principle,...

SCOTUS OKs Ban on Homeless People Sleeping Outdoors

In 6-3 ruling, Supreme Court justices find that such restrictions don't violate Eighth Amendment

(Newser) - The Supreme Court is wrapping up its current session with a deluge of high-profile cases , and on Friday, it added even more rulings to the mix. Among them: a 6-3 decision by the high court to allow US cities to enforce restrictions on homeless people sleeping outside, overturning a San...

Sonia Sotomayor: I've Wept Over SCOTUS Rulings

Liberal member of high court says she's cried after certain cases, likely will again

(Newser) - Even cowgirls and Supreme Court justices get the blues. Justice Sonia Sotomayor confirmed the latter on Friday, revealing that she's wept after certain rulings that she and her colleagues on the high court's bench have handed down, reports CNN . "There are days that I've come to...

Trump Lawyer: Assassination 'Could Well Be' an Official Act

Key questions from the first hours of SCOTUS hearing

(Newser) - As Donald Trump sat in a different courtroom, the Supreme Court heard arguments Thursday on whether the former president is immune from prosecution for acts committed while in office. The AP reports that at least five justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts, appeared skeptical of Trump's claims of "...

Op-Ed: Sonia Sotomayor Should Retire Quickly
Op-Ed: Sonia Sotomayor
Should Retire Quickly
OPINION
Mar 18, 2024 9:40 AM CDT

Op-Ed: Sonia Sotomayor Should Retire Quickly

Josh Barro makes the case for Democrats in the 'Atlantic'

(Newser) - Early last year, Politico reported that private rumblings had begun among Democrats who want Sonia Sotomayor to retire from the Supreme Court before the fall election. Now in the Atlantic , Josh Barro argues that the rumblings should grow much louder—and public. Sotomayor will turn 70 in June, and if...

Sandra Day O'Connor Honored as Role Model
Sandra Day O'Connor
Honored as Role Model
photos
Dec 18, 2023 6:45 PM CST

Sandra Day O'Connor Honored as Role Model

First woman on Supreme Court understood Americans, Sotomayor says

(Newser) - Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to serve on the US Supreme Court, was remembered Monday as a trailblazer who never lost sight of how the high court's decisions affected all Americans. O'Connor, an Arizona native who was an unwavering voice of moderate conservatism for more...

Kavanaugh: SCOTUS Ethics Changes Are on the Way

He predicts 'concrete steps' in the near future

(Newser) - Public confidence in the Supreme Court is at a 50-year-low, but Justice Brett Kavanaugh says change is on the way. When asked about "perceived ethical issues" at a judicial conference Thursday, Kavanaugh said the court is "continuing to work on those issues," as Chief Justice John Robert...

Justices Should Know 'People Are Selling Access to Them'
SCOTUS Justices' College
Visits Get Ethically Murky
investigation
Jul 11, 2023 1:45 PM CDT

SCOTUS Justices' College Visits Get Ethically Murky

Schools often have them hobnob with donors and raise mega-bucks

(Newser) - The AP is out with a massive report on the extracurricular activities of the Supreme Court justices—specifically their seemingly innocuous visits to college campuses. But, as the agency reports, it uncovered "tens of thousands of pages of emails and other documents that reveal the extent to which public...

Jackson Dissents in First Opinion
Jackson
Dissents in
First Opinion
Nov 7, 2022 4:30 PM CST

Jackson Dissents in First Opinion

Sotomayor joins newest justice on death row case

(Newser) - A month into her lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson issued her first opinion on Monday, objecting to her colleagues' decision to not take up an appeal from a death row inmate in Ohio. The fact that the case was declined means that fewer than four...

Also Not in Constitution: Court Having Final Say

Sotomayor pointed out that the justices grabbed onto the power of judicial review, Joshua Zeitz writes

(Newser) - When the Supreme Court was holding oral arguments last December in the case that brought about the end of Roe v. Wade, Justice Sonia Sotomayor addressed the familiar argument that the Constitution doesn't mention a right to privacy. That fact was a central argument in the court's majority...

Sotomayor Praises Thomas, Offers 'Pep Talk' to Progressives

Justice notes her colleague's kindness, deep concern over Supreme Court 'as an institution'

(Newser) - With polarizing cases on immigration, gun rights, and abortion rights looming, things are said to be tense within the walls of the Supreme Court Building. Not helping those tensions is the fact that a draft opinion of the latter case was leaked to Politico last month or the fact that...

NPR's Nina Totenberg Fires Back at Public Editor
NPR's Supreme Court
Story Takes Another Turn
the rundown
Jan 21, 2022 11:00 AM CST

NPR's Supreme Court Story Takes Another Turn

Reporter Nina Totenberg defends it, rejects public editor's clarification

(Newser) - The saga over an NPR report on the Supreme Court continues. Veteran reporter Nina Totenberg is dismissing criticism from her outlet's public editor about a story Totenberg wrote about justice Neil Gorsuch's decision to forgo a mask while on the bench. Here's how it has unfolded:
  • Original
...

2 SCOTUS Justices Issue Unusual Joint Statement

Gorsuch, Sotomayor say they're not feuding over mask-wearing

(Newser) - Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Sonia Sotomayor say that while they don't always agree on the law, they're not feuding over mask-wearing. The Donald Trump appointee and the Barack Obama appointee issued an unusual joint statement Wednesday in response to an NPR story that said Sotomayor had...

A New Court Focus: Gorsuch's Lack of Mask
Focus Returns
to a Maskless
Justice 
Gorsuch
the rundown
Jan 18, 2022 10:45 AM CST

Focus Returns to a Maskless Justice Gorsuch

He's only justice to go without one, and critics say it's insensitive to Sonia Sotomayor

(Newser) - In a story about relations between justices on the Supreme Court Tuesday, veteran NPR reporter Nina Totenberg called attention to an issue that's been percolating for a while—Neil Gorsuch's decision not to wear a mask. Chief Justice John Roberts has asked all the justices to wear one...

Supreme Court Changes Format to Correct Slight to Female Justices

They were being interrupted more than their male colleagues

(Newser) - The Supreme Court is only days into its new term, but there's already been a marked change. As CNN reports, "even in contentious cases, the justices haven't cut each other off—something that often occurred in past terms." That's the result of a change to...

Supreme Court's Interesting New Math: 3-3-3
Supreme Court's Interesting
New Math: 3-3-3
the rundown
Jun 18, 2021 9:40 AM CDT

Supreme Court's Interesting New Math: 3-3-3

The 6-3 conservative majority isn't issuing decisions quite as expected, at least so far

(Newser) - When Amy Coney Barrett replaced Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court last year, it resulted in what is usually described as a 6-3 advantage for conservatives over liberals on the court. But two big decisions Thursday— one on ObamaCare and the other on a Catholic group that refuses to...

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