U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor revealed new information about her relationship with Justice Clarence Thomas, including that he was the first to send flowers after the death of her stepfather, during an appearance at Washington University in St. Louis on Wednesday.
“The first flowers that arrived in my mother’s home were from Clarence Thomas,” Sotomayor said.
Sotomayor, a liberal, acknowledged the disagreements she has had with Thomas, a conservative, Washington University in St. Louis student news outlet Student Life reported.
“We disagree more than any other two justices,” Sotomayor said. “Yet Clarence Thomas knows the name of virtually every employee in the building, and he cares so deeply that he knows when someone in the building is suffering some difficulty, a parent has died, a child is sick….Not a lot of people do that.”
Why It Matters
Sotomayor and Thomas agreed on 57 percent of cases in the 2024 term, according to statistics by SCOTUSblog. The only justice who agreed with Thomas with less frequency was liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, with the two aligning on 54 percent of cases.
Despite the Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority, the justices ruled unanimously in 42 percent of cases decided last term.
What To Know
Sotomayor spoke at Washington University to promote her new children’s book, Just Shine! How to Be a Better You. She also spoke about her work on the Supreme Court.
She said she has struggled with some of the court’s decisions, Student Life reported.
“I can’t escape the frustration or sometimes the anger,” Sotomayor said. “It’s inherent in feeling as I do on occasion, that the answers that are being given are wrong by the court.”
She also urged the audience to keep fighting for justice.
“Many cases are being lost now, but we don’t have a right to give up,” Sotomayor said. “We don’t have a right to sit on our hands. Nothing comes without sacrifice. But I know we have heroes among us, and every one of us has the capacity, in small or big ways, to be heroes. That’s what gives me hope.”
What People Are Saying
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, at Washington University in St. Louis on Wednesday: “I go into my rooms, especially the one I work at, and I listen to people I disagree with….I remind myself constantly of my mother saying there’s good in every person, in every person with whom I disagree.”
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Tuesday: “A democracy requires compromise. We can’t govern ourselves if we’re not willing to compromise and meet in the middle. Moreover, you know, we’re all in this together, and if we have a winner takes all approach, where you just want to crush the enemy, if you regard people who disagree with you as the enemy, we can’t constructively move forward as a society.”
What Happens Next
The new Supreme Court term begins on October 6.
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