The judge spoke at the University of Kansas about his decision to allow ICE to resume indiscriminate immigration stops in Los Angeles, according to Bloomberg Law.
Supreme Court clears the way for Trump Justice Department to overturn Bannon’s conviction
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Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor lashed out at fellow Justice Brett Kavanaugh at an April 7 event, criticizing his recent opinions in immigration cases.
At an event hosted by the University of Kansas School of Law, Sotomayor spoke about the court’s divided September 2025 decision that allowed the Trump administration to reinstate an immigration-related ban on nondiscriminatory admissions in Los Angeles, Bloomberg Law reported. The suspensions sparked widespread protests in California, with many criticizing them as based on racial profiling.
Over a dissent by three liberal justices, including Justice Sotomayor, the court blocked a lower court’s ruling that federal agents must have reasonable suspicion that the person they are interrogating is in the country illegally.
“In that case, I had a colleague who wrote, ‘This is only a temporary suspension,'” Sotomayor said, without naming the colleague, referring to Kavanaugh’s concurring opinion. “This is coming from a guy whose parents were professionals, and you probably don’t actually know anyone who works hourly.”
Sotomayor added of those detained: “No one is paying them for the time they are taken away.” “That’s the difference between what he and the kids eat that night and maybe a cold dinner,” she told the audience, Bloomberg Law reported.
According to Bloomberg Law, Kavanaugh said in his opinion for the court that contact between legal residents and immigration officials is “usually brief” and affected individuals are “promptly released.”
The legal challenge comes after the Trump administration ramped up immigration enforcement across California starting in June 2025, expanding from people with criminal records to broader sweeps of anyone in the country without authorization.
In his 2025 dissent, Sotomayor slammed the court’s decision.
“We should not live in a country where the government can arrest anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and works for low wages,” Sotomayor wrote. “Rather than stand by and watch our constitutional freedoms disappear, I will oppose it.”
Mr. Kavanaugh was born and raised in Washington, D.C., and attended Georgetown Preparatory School, an all-boys school. In 1987, Kavanaugh earned a bachelor’s degree from Yale University. He received his law degree from Yale Law School in 1990. He served as a judge on the D.C. Circuit before President Trump appointed him to the Supreme Court. He was confirmed to the Supreme Court in 2018 and previously served as a top aide to President George W. Bush during his tenure.
Sotomayor made history in 2009 when she became the first Latina woman to serve on the Supreme Court. She was nominated by former President Barack Obama. Sotomayor is a Spanish-speaking Bronx native born to working-class Puerto Rican parents. She received her bachelor’s degree from Princeton University in 1976 and her law degree from Yale Law School in 1979. Prior to joining the Supreme Court, he served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the New York District Court, and was an assistant district attorney in Manhattan.
Contributor: Maureen Groppe, USA TODAY.
Kathryn Palmer is USA TODAY’s political reporter. She can be reached at the following address: kapalmer@usatoday.com And to X@Kathryn Purml. Sign up for her daily politics newsletter here.
