The Patriot Post® · Why Is Sonia Sotomayor Praising Clarence Thomas?

Events over at the U.S. Supreme Court just keep getting more curious. It was once a trusted American institution that did a relatively good job at keeping itself separate, though not above, the political fray of the Swamp in which it resides. Those days are over, though, and the High Court now appears to be just like any other branch of the federal government: mired down in politics and untrusted by the citizenry.

Consider the unprecedented May 2 leak of Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The draft pointed to the possible overturning of the Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision — a decision that egregiously extended the Constitution’s right to privacy to include a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy with extreme prejudice.

Predictably, the Left and the media (but we repeat ourselves) lost their tiny minds over the draft. They shouted from the rooftops and across the lawns of justices’ private residences that this would surely be the downfall of the republic. (Which is really what they’re after, but that’s not the point to be made here.) They’ve vandalized churches and pro-life organizations across the country, and a deranged young Californian tried to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his home.

As the country waits for the High Court’s final ruling on Dobbs, and what is sure to be more violence inspired by the Left, things have gotten weirder still. Justice Sonia Sotomayor made some remarks at the left-wing American Constitution Society’s National Convention recently that are worth a closer look.

Sotomayor, an ardent leftist, went out of her way to praise one of her conservative colleagues, Justice Clarence Thomas. She began by pointing out that she disagrees with him more than any other justice, but then said, “Justice Thomas is the one justice in the building that literally knows every employee’s name, every one of them. And not only does he know their names, he remembers their families’ names and histories.” Though she finds herself ideologically at odds with Thomas, Sotomayor said that they share “a common understanding about people and kindness towards them.”

Sotomayor, a 2009 Obama appointee, said she hoped that the Court can “regain the public’s confidence,” that it can overcome its “mistakes,” and “that we have to have continuing faith in the court system.”

This sounds like a mini-PR tour meant to shore up the Court’s tarnished image. But let’s not forget that these statements were made to an audience of leftist lawyers whose respect for Rule of Law goes only as far as what the law can do for their agenda. Sotomayor’s statement on Thomas was in response to a question of the “How can you work with a guy like that?” variety.

There’s also a rumor that the Dobbs leaker came from Sotomayor’s office. We may never know, though, since neither the media nor the Court’s investigators seem too interested in getting to the bottom of it. The only reporting on the investigation is a lot of pearl-clutching about the rights of Supreme Court clerks who may have to turn over their cellphone records. But as for the potentially irreversible damage done to the institution? Crickets.

And just to add another layer of complexity to the situation, Justice Thomas’s wife, Ginni, is in the crosshairs of the Democrats’ rigged January 6 Committee because of emails and texts she exchanged with former President Donald Trump’s lawyers after the 2020 election. “I look forward to talking to them,” Thomas said. “I can’t wait to clear up misconceptions.”

As the Wall Street Journal editorial board points out, Democrats “may be supremely disappointed” when they find nothing of any import in Mrs. Thomas’s communications, especially given that she’s a private citizen perfectly “free to make political arguments in a personal capacity.”

Still, that hasn’t stopped the committee’s least trustworthy member, California Democrat Adam Schiff, from calling on Justice Thomas to recuse himself from any January 6-related cases.

What cases might those be? We suspect the High Court would prefer to stay as far away as possible from the House Democrats’ January 6 spectacle.