High court's Sotomayor, Barrett try to persuade each other
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two of the Supreme Court justices who disagree most often on the outcomes of cases say they both still try hard to persuade each other, and sometimes succeed. Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Amy Coney Barrett made the comments in a pretaped conversation made public for the first time Thursday evening.
Barrett, a conservative, and Sotomayor, a liberal, were on opposite sides of a decision last month in which the court stripped away women’s constitutional protections for abortion. They also disagreed on decisions where the court expanded gun rights and lowered barriers to religion in public life. But, noted Barrett at one point: “We like each other. We do.”
“I think one of the wonders of being on the Supreme Court is my knowing that every single one of my colleagues is equally passionate about the Constitution, our system of government and getting it right as I am. We may disagree on how to get there, and we often do, but that doesn’t mean that I look at them and say, ‘You’re bad people.’ I accept that it is a difference of opinion,” Sotomayor said. “I’m going to work very hard to try to convince them to look at it my way, and to correct their wrong.”
The two also talked about ways the court, currently divided 6-3 between conservatives and liberals, works to foster collegiality. They celebrate birthdays with a toast and round of “Happy Birthday,” shake every other justice’s hand when they get together and eat lunch together, where a rule is that they can’t talk about work.
https://apnews.com/article/us-supreme-court-amy-coney-barrett-gun-politics-sonia-sotomayor-government-and-26b20378134e8edb1c25c6a191609440
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