Sotomayor Says She 'Regrets' Remarks About Colleague

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is walking back pointed public comments she made about a colleague's background, calling them "inappropriate" and saying she has apologized to the justice, NBC News reports. In a statement released Wednesday, Sotomayor said she regretted "hurtful comments" made during an April 7 appearance at the University of Kansas School of Law, where she criticized the justice's reasoning in a 2025 immigration case. While she did not name the colleague either time, NBC reports she was talking about Brett Kavanaugh. Bloomberg Law previously reported that, without naming him, Sotomayor questioned whether Kavanaugh—"a man whose parents were professionals"—personally knew "any person who works by the hour."

Her remarks referenced his opinion in a decision that let the Trump administration conduct broad immigration sweeps in the Los Angeles area; Sotomayor had dissented. The public mea culpa comes as multiple justices, including Ketanji Brown Jackson and Clarence Thomas, have recently aired concerns or criticisms about court relations or decisions in speeches, even as the court's 6-3 conservative majority prepares to issue some of its term's most contentious rulings by the end of June. NBC notes Sotomayor's apology is "unusual," while the Washington Post calls it "rare." Her original remarks were "exceedingly rare" as well, per CNN; the Post notes she typically sticks to airing disagreements in official court opinions. (Justice Jackson recently criticized the court's use of the emergency docket.)