Justice Sotomayor participated in the event with law students by Zoom. Sotomayor first told the law students to expect a “huge amount” of disappointment in the law and pointed to “my dissents” as evidence of that struggle.

Sotomayor then turned to the recent court decision not to intervene in the Texas abortion case. Sotomayor wrote a heated dissent in Whole Woman Health v. Jackson. After criticizing her colleagues for their “stunning” decision, she called on students to politically oppose the law: “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.” She then added “I am pointing out to that when I shouldn’t because they tell me I shouldn’t. But my point is that there are going to be a lot of things you don’t like” and require public action.”

It was plainly obvious that Justice Sotomayor was encouraging students to politically oppose the law and laws like it. She was already on record in both her dissent and her public comments that she viewed the law as horrific and unacceptable.Not only is the Court scheduled to deal with the Dobbs case this term, Whole Woman Health v. Jackson was only denied a stay. New appeals are working toward the Court. Now that Sotomayor has called for political action and lobbying against the law, there may be calls for her to recuse herself though she is unlikely to do so. What is most striking is how Sotomayor’s words have received praise and virtually no criticism from the left.