Justice Sotomayor defends courts amid criticism from Trump and his allies

Liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said Tuesday that courts must use their “soft power” to persuade people to comply with rulings on contentious issues.

She made the comments at an event at Miami Dade College in Florida in the wake of a growing chorus among some allies of President Donald Trump, including Vice President JD Vance, who have pushed back against recent court rulings that have stymied some of his aggressive executive orders.

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The criticism has prompted concern that the administration could defy certain court rulings it disagrees with, with some describing the nation as being on the verge of a constitutional crisis.

“Court decisions stand, whether one particular person chooses to abide by them or not,” Sotomayor said when she was asked about the importance of the Constitution’s separation of powers. “It doesn’t change the foundation that it’s still a court order that someone will respect at some point.”

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Sotomayor, one of three liberals on the conservative-majority court, said she would not be "getting too much into this" when she was questioned about the issue, and she stressed she was speaking broadly. She did not mention Trump by name.

She said the Supreme Court in particular has to “make it clear to the society, to the presidents, to the Congress, to the people that we are doing things based on law and the Constitution as we are interpreting it fairly.”

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In that sense, the court’s power is “the power of reason, and that’s what most people would consider a soft power, but it’s the most powerful of all,” she said.

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In response to another question, Sotomayor touched upon the issue again when she mentioned occasions when the court's authority has been questioned in the past and the rule of law has been put under threat.

"We’ve had moments where it’s been tested, but by and large, we have been a country who has understood that the rule of law has helped us maintain our democracy, but it’s also because the court has proceeded cautiously," she said.

She was participating in a question-and-answer session hosted by Maribel Perez Wadsworth, the president of the Knight Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports journalism and the arts.