Justice Sotomayor apologizes for ‘hurtful comments’ about Kavanaugh at Kansas event

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor spoke on April 7, 2026, about her mother's influence while answering questions about her life and career at the Lied Center in Lawrence, Kansas. (Photo by Anna Kaminski/Kansas Reflector)

LAWRENCE — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor formally apologized for critiquing a colleague while speaking in Kansas last week, admitting her remarks were “inappropriate” and “hurtful.”

Sotomayor insinuated fellow Justice Brett Kavanaugh didn’t know working class people and, therefore, couldn’t understand the ramifications of his decision in the pivotal case that allowed federal immigration officers in California to continue stopping people based on race, ethnicity, native language, location and occupation. However, she did not mention Kavanaugh by name.

“There are some people who can’t understand our experiences, even when you tell them,” Sotomayor said. “I had a colleague in that case who wrote, you know, these are only temporary stops. This is from a man whose parents were professionals and probably doesn’t really know any person who works by the hour or the piece like I do.”

Sotomayor appeared on April 7 at the University of Kansas in Lawrence alongside KU alumni and twin sisters Janet and Mary Murguia, who asked the justice about her experience as a Latina and her thoughts on the case Noem v. Perdomo, in which she and the court’s two other liberal justices dissented. Kavanaugh concurred with the majority and wrote that immigration enforcement stops for legal immigrants are “typically brief, and those individuals may promptly go free” upon proving citizenship or legal status.

“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 in a statement from the court. “I regret my hurtful comments. I have apologized to my colleague.”

Sotomayor’s discussion of the immigration case was part of a rare glimpse into the tensions between the court’s majority and minority. She also said her beliefs about the court’s use of the emergency docket, or “shadow docket,” differ from those of the majority. She said the court’s frequent use can be “a little bit disrespectful” of lower courts, “especially when we’re doing things without reasons, and it feels as if our decision-making may not be as relevant.”

Sotomayor told the audience of around 1,700 about her upbringing in the Bronx in a Puerto Rican family, her eventual enrollments at Princeton University and Yale Law School and the resistance she faced as the Supreme Court’s first nominee of Hispanic descent.

“Princeton was an absolute shock,” she said. “I didn’t know what I was getting myself into.”

Sotomayor’s remarks were not recorded for public distribution. Sotomayor spoke for more than an hour with the Murguia sisters. Her visit also included visits to a local elementary school, where she read one of her children’s books, and a second chance program for people with criminal histories.