Justice Sotomayor Says Lawyers Must ‘Stand Up' and ‘Fight This Fight'
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, speaking to hundreds of lawyers at an American Bar Association event on Thursday night, urged the legal profession to toughen up.
'If you're not used to fighting, and losing battles, then don't become a lawyer,' she said. 'Our job is to stand up for people who can't do it themselves.'
'Right now,' she added, 'we can't lose the battles we are facing.'
Justice Sotomayor spoke in general terms, but her remarks came against the backdrop of immense stress on lawyers and the legal system from the Trump administration. That tension included a string of executive orders from President Trump retaliating against prominent law firms, stripping their lawyers of security clearances, barring them from entering federal buildings and discouraging federal officials from interacting with the firms.
She was once a summer associate at one of those firms, Paul Weiss, which led the way in striking a deal with the administration, prompting criticism that it had sacrificed its principles to protect its bottom line. Many other leading firms followed suit.
Justice Sotomayor indicated that she had a different conception of what lawyers ought to do.
'We need trained and passionate and committed lawyers to fight this fight,' she said. 'For me, being here with you is an act of solidarity.'
Justice Sotomayor's remarks came in a charged setting, at an awards ceremony at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which is part of the Smithsonian Institution. Mr. Trump has been critical of the Smithsonian generally for what he called its adoption of 'a divisive, race-centered ideology' and its promotion of 'narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.'
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