The Muslim Ban decision is shameful, but history will remember the words of Sonia Sotomayor.
The following essay was written by Christopher Punongbayan, the newly-appointed Executive Director of California ChangeLawyers.
Most Supreme Court dissents end with the words “I respectfully dissent”. But in Trump v. Hawaii, Justice Sonia Sotomayor left off the word “respectfully”.
That’s because Justice Sotomayor decided to tell the truth. And the truth is, there’s nothing respectful about this decision.
Like many people of color, Justice Sotomayor knows a thing or two about what it’s like to be excluded. She’s a latinx lawyer, which means she’s had to make her way through predominantly white spaces her entire career — and she’s felt the sting of being made to feel like you don’t belong.
This is why her dissent is so strongly worded. For her, for me, and for all “disfavored groups”, this decision just affirms what many of us already know: we are not created equal. Liberty and justice is not for all.
If you’re reading this, you know why this decision is wrong. It clearly ignores the discriminatory motivations that underlie it. It “tells members of minority religions in our country “‘that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community.’”
And yet I can’t help but feel hopeful. Here’s why
Trump v Hawaii will go down in history, like Korematsu and Dred Scott before it, as a deeply bigoted decision. And just like those other decisions, the issue will come before the Courts again. And when it does, it will be the words of Justice Sotomayor that will inspire its repeal and repudiation.
It will be the words of the only Brown woman on the Supreme Court that will live on in history, that will inspire a new generation of lawyers to fight back against bans, walls, and ideas that separate us. It will be the words of a Sonia Sotomayor that motivate us all to keep fighting until we have a justice system that serves us all equally.
