In a country where the pillars of democracy are trembling under the weight of polarization and systematic attacks on the rule of law, Justice Sonia Sotomayor has done something that now seems almost bold: "she called on lawyers to fight back".
Speaking before the American Bar Association in Washington, Sotomayor—the first Latina justice on the Supreme Court—did not mention Donald Trump by name, but her message was a sharp rebuke aimed squarely at an administration obsessed with "bending the judiciary to the will of the executive".
“If you’re not used to fighting and losing battles, don’t become a lawyer,” she declared, as if to warn that the robe alone is no longer enough—courage is now required. And she’s right. In an era where judges are harassed, law firms are investigated for defending immigrants, and diversity policies are being gutted with impunity, "silence equals complicity".
Trump, back in office, has wasted no time. He has lashed out at judges who ruled against him, used executive orders to intimidate legal firms, and launched a personal crusade against diversity. What’s at stake is not just policy— "it’s the very independence of the judiciary", one of the last remaining checks on authoritarian overreach.
Sotomayor is not alone. Chief Justice John Roberts—a conservative but an institutionalist—recently defended judicial independence as a safeguard against executive excess. And Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson warned that attacks on judges are “an attack on democracy.” The problem? "These warnings are beginning to sound more like desperate pleas in a political vacuum".
Take the case of the Paul Weiss law firm. After being targeted by the government, it ended up striking a deal to align with certain administration policies and avoid retaliation. Is that what legal advocacy has come to in the U.S.? "Negotiating with power just to survive?"
The war on diversity has also been relentless. Sotomayor stated plainly: “Diversity matters for its own sake.” But in Trump’s new order, equity and inclusion are framed not as democratic strengths, but as dangerous threats.
Facing this reality, the Justice issued her battle cry: "lawyers must fight". Why? Because law without principle becomes merely a tool of power. Because when judges are treated as enemies and advocates as traitors, "justice is no longer blind—it starts to look away in fear".
At this critical moment, the stakes go far beyond one administration or ideology. What’s at risk is the very notion that power must be checked, that no one—not even a president—is above the law. And if lawyers remain silent now, tomorrow there may be no one left to speak for them.
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