U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor sprinkled in commentary about the state of the union between musings on the law and lessons from her long, storied career during a packed event at the University of Vermont on Monday night.
“We are in a difficult part of American history,” Sotomayor said during a conversation with UVM president Marlene Tromp at the Ira Allen Chapel. She urged the student-heavy crowd to stay engaged and to believe in their power to inspire change.
“You have [been] and should be worried. What you shouldn’t do is walk away from the fight,” she said. That’s when “we lose the war.”
Sotomayor’s appearance was part of the Leahy Public Policy Forum series and capped off a full day in Burlington for the 71-year-old justice, who also met with local elementary school children and spoke privately to groups of UVM students and alumni.
The evening event featured opening remarks from Gov. Phil Scott and U.S. Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), along with a recorded video from former senator Patrick Leahy, who led Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings in 2009. Tromp then posed questions, submitted by students and faculty, to the justice.
The conversation felt at times like a mix between a law symposium and a one-on-one interview about Sotomayor’s life.
She spoke briefly about her Bronx upbringing, her mother’s influence and important early life lessons: to take risks and speak up when she didn’t understand something. She urged students to not be afraid of being “stupid” and to recognize that failure can be an important lesson.
Sotomayor spoke of the law as being filled with gray areas and explained her writing process, saying she will often formulate an opinion with a particular audience in mind, be that the public, the executive branch or Congress. She also spoke of the importance of dissenting opinions, a position in which she often finds herself as a member of the court’s outnumbered liberal bloc. She encouraged aspiring lawyers to embrace cases they might lose — especially important these days, she said, for anyone working on civil rights issues.
The justice strayed directly into politics only briefly, saying at one point that she fears much of America has forgotten how the country became “great” in the first place: off the backs of immigrants.
The conversation then ended on a light note, with Tromp asking Sotomayor what she missed most about the Bronx. The food, the justice said, especially the spicy kind. And the people, who come from all different backgrounds.
“Washington’s Washington. There’s a lot of politicians,” Sotomayor said to laughter. Looking down at Welch, who sat near the front, she added, “Sorry, senator.”