Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor weighed in on public confidence in the court, saying “there are no easy answers.”
During an appearance on “Today,” host Savannah Guthrie said, “I know that you are not permitted to discuss any case or controversy before the Supreme Court in this interview, and I’m not even going to try it.”
She continued, “But let me ask you this. Just generally, there is concern that the court, as an institution, its credibility has been falling. A recent Gallup poll found that just 54% of Americans have a great deal or fair amount of trust in the court. How much do you worry about that, the court as an institution and how the public sees it?”
Sotomayor responded, “I think all of us worry about that. We think about ways in which we can comport ourselves, among ourselves to ensure that the public has confidence in what we’re doing. I do need to discuss this a little bit with the public to assure them that one of the hardest things about our work is that there are no easy answers.”
She explained, “Reasonable people can disagree. In fact, we only take cases when there are circuit splits – I shouldn’t say only. But largely, most of our case docket is when the courts below have disagreed. And because of that, obviously, just as the larger society disagrees about the answers to some of our problems, so does the court. And if you bear that in mind, perhaps the public can be more accepting of the kind of work we do.”
Watch Sotomayor’s remarks below:
“One of hardest things about our work is that there are no easy answers.” -Justice Sonia Sotomayor to @SavannahGuthrie on public perception of the Supreme Court pic.twitter.com/LOmKayrRS7
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) January 25, 2022
Sotomayor made headlines last week after she responded to reports about her and her colleague Neil Gorsuch, as IJR reported.
In a joint statement, the justices said, “Reporting that Justice Sotomayor asked Justice Gorsuch to wear a mask surprised us. It is false. While we may sometimes disagree about the law, we are warm colleagues and friends.”
Chief Justice Roberts also denied reports that he asked “Gorsuch or any other Justice to wear a mask on the bench.”