Justice Sotomayor Apologizes for ‘Hurtful Comments’ Suggesting Justice Kavanaugh Is Privileged

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued an apology after she attacked fellow Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh for how he was raised, implying that he was privileged.

In a statement from the Supreme Court, Sotomayor apologized for the “hurtful comments” she made while speaking about “an opinion Kavanaugh wrote last year relating to a decision” that allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to “conduct broad immigration sweeps” in Los Angeles, California, NBC News reported.

Sotomayor’s criticism of Kavanaugh came while speaking at the University of Kansas School of Law on April 7. In her comments, Sotomayor did not specifically mention Kavanaugh.

“At a recent appearance at the University of Kansas School of Law, I referred to a disagreement with one of my colleagues in a prior case, but I made remarks that were inappropriate,” Sotomayor said. “I regret my hurtful comments. I have apologized to my colleague.”

During the event at the university, Sotomayor spoke about how one of her colleagues wrote that “these are only temporary stops,” Bloomberg Law reported.

“This is from a man whose parents were professionals,” Sotomayor added. “And probably doesn’t really know any person who works by the hour.”

Per Bloomberg Law:

In a Sept. 8 emergency order issued without any majority rationale, the justices paused lower court rulings temporarily barring immigration agents from targeting people based solely on their language, occupation, race, or presence at locations such as car washes or bus stops.

In a concurrence, Kavanaugh asserted that legal residents’ encounters with immigration agents are “typically brief,” and impacted individuals “promptly go free.”

“Those hours that they took you away, nobody’s paying that person,” Sotomayor continued. “And that makes a difference between a meal for him and his kids that night and maybe just cold supper.”