‘Fearlessly Independent’: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor Reflects on the Role of Courts, Rule of Law

“More than ever, we have to get up and explain and repeat and explain again why judicial independence is critical to everyone’s freedom,” the Justice said in response to a question about the role of courts in addressing growing challenges to the rule of law. (The topic, said Treanor, was the most frequently asked about in the questions he collected from students ahead of the event.)

“Once we lose our common norms, we’ve lost the rule of law completely. So it’s going back to figuring out what those are,” she added.

Judges and citizens alike, Justice Sotomayor said, should “ensure that the courts are fearlessly independent, that we understand that our obligation is to protect the rights given to us under the Constitution.”

“These are not just made-up rights,” she said. “The Constitution is the structure of the norms that bind us as a society.”

‘History is always evolving’

During her fireside chat with Dean Treanor, Justice Sotomayor answered questions submitted by students in the audience — each of whom was also invited onstage to take a picture with the Justice, who reflected on her approach to cases involving complex legal issues and Constitutional interpretation.

“For me, my approach has always relied on a broader understanding that it’s not mere words and it’s not mere history,” she said. “The idea that we would think that we were frozen into a period of time seems alien to what I think the purpose of the Constitution is.”

The principle of fair process, she said, was most important to guiding her decision-making as a Supreme Court Justice.

“The vast majority of my dissents surround issues of fair process, because that really guides what I think justice is about,” she said, citing her writing on death penalty cases as an example of her process-based approach to jurisprudence.

Sustaining the rule of law

The Justice also offered guidance for the next generation of legal professionals and commented on the role of law schools in preparing students to one day advocate within — and defend — our democracy.

“The fact that some of our public leaders are lawyers advocating or making statements challenging the rule of law tells me that fundamentally our law schools are failing,” she said.

For the students in the audience, the Justice’s advice proved both timely and meaningful. “It is encouraging to hear someone at the highest level of the judiciary engage so thoughtfully with the development and growth of future lawyers,” said Skylar Wu, L’27, following the event.

“I deeply appreciated her emphasis on grounding legal education in moral reasoning and interpersonal understanding — values that often get lost in the more adversarial aspects of legal training,” she said of the chance to hear the Justice’s response to her question about the core values that legal education should prioritize.

Tessa Freeman, L’27, who just before the event had read Justice Sotomayor’s dissent in Trump v. Hawaii for her Constitutional Law class, said she was grateful for the opportunity to meet its author. “Suddenly, I was not only in the same room as the woman who had written that dissent, but also speaking with her and holding her hand,” Freeman said. “I was so struck by how kind and welcoming she was, continually returning to make eye contact with me while answering my question and later taking the time to go around the entire room to take photos with the audience. It was a master class in public speaking.”

For Allie Finio, L’26, getting to meet the Justice was, she said, “surreal.” Finio asked about Justice Sotomayor’s writing process, and said of the answer she received, “I loved hearing how intentional she is to avoid legalese and ensure that her opinions remain accessible and easy to follow. I will definitely try to implement her approach in my future legal practice.”

Another student questioner, Liam Brozen, L’25, said that he appreciated that Justice Sotomayor acknowledged that the average American will never read her carefully crafted opinions, and that instead, she hopes to be remembered as being fair toward the cases before her. “I think this was a helpful contrast to the emphasis law school places on being the best writer, or involved in the highest profile cases, or overall being thought of as the most prestigious — that meaning can be found simply in trying to do right by your neighbor,” said Brozen.

In response to Treanor’s final question of the night, Justice Sotomayor reflected on her tenure on the nation’s highest court, where she has served since 2009, and the legacy she hopes to leave.

“If I can make people passionate about the rule of law, about your obligation to sustain it and become involved — then I’ve done what I’ve wanted to do,” she said.