The Political Supreme Court

Some things are true despite Josh Hammer saying them. Hence his 10/1/2021 column “Sonia Sotomayor Exposes the Lie of an ‘Apolitical’ Supreme Court,” which — well, exposes the lie of an apolitical Supreme Court.

Specifically, Hammer takes issue with this statement Sotomayor made while talking to the American Bar Association:

You know, I can’t change Texas’ law, but you can and everyone else who may or may not like it can go out there and be lobbying forces in changing laws that you don’t like.

Of course, all Sotomayor is saying is that the Supreme Court is not the only source of changing a law. If anything, it seems like Sotomayor is making this statement to prepare the public for a situation where the Supreme Court finds the Texas abortion ban constitutional — saying that, just because a law is declared constitutional, that does not mean it cannot be repealed.

Hammer takes a different view:

It is difficult, likely impossible, to interpret these comments as anything other than Sotomayor actively encouraging the ABA audience to work to alter or repeal S.B. 8. Under standard canons of judicial ethics and federal law (28 U.S.C. 455) itself, Sotomayor should now be forced to recuse from future S.B. 8 litigation at the Supreme Court.