Supreme Court Says Samuel Alito’s Bench Reaction to Sonia Sotomayor Was a Misunderstanding

The Supreme Court said Justice Samuel Alito’s verbal reaction to Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent read from the bench was based on a “misunderstanding,” after the two justices clashed publicly during the court’s Thursday announcements.

NPR reported that after Alito summarized three major opinions, he paused when Sotomayor read a summary of her contrary views in dissent, and Alito then said, "There is much that I would have added to my bench statement had I known there would be a dissent read."

Above the Law

The court’s public information office responded to NPR’s inquiry with a statement that "Justice Alito was notified in advance by Justice Sotomayor's chambers that she would be reading a dissent from the bench."

In the asylum case tied to the Southern Border, Alito’s opinion ruled in favor of the Trump administration’s policy of refusing all such applicants by blocking them at the border, and NPR described the policy as one that had also been followed at one time by the Obama administration until it was blocked by the lower courts.

CNN reported that the Supreme Court downplayed the “angry, very public spat” between Alito and Sotomayor as nothing more than a “misunderstanding,” and it said the court spokesperson made the point in a statement responding to questions from CNN.

CNN quoted the spokesperson saying, "It was a misunderstanding on Justice Alito's part," after Sotomayor publicly read a dissent in a case involving asylum claims and Alito appeared taken aback by her remarks.

Alternet

Mediaite, citing CNN, described Alito’s reaction as stunned and said Sotomayor’s dissent declared “more people will die” because of the decision, while Alito said, "If I had known what the dissent was going to say, I would have explained my ruling more," during the exchange.

The CNN account also tied the back-and-forth to a 6-3 decision approving a policy of turning asylum seekers away at the border, and it said the court is set to hand down additional opinions on Monday and likely wrap up its term next week.

In Sotomayor’s spoken dissent, the Miami Times said she traced a difficult journey for asylum seekers and outlined a chapter from 1939, when the U.S. and other countries turned back a ship full of Jewish refugees attempting to flee persecution in Nazi Germany, with about 250 passengers later dying in the Holocaust.

“The highly unusual exchange between Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Sonia Sotomayor over a dissent read from the bench was based on a “misunderstanding” by the conservative justice, the Supreme Court said Friday”

CNN

The Miami Times also quoted Sotomayor’s view that the majority’s opinion would allow the Trump administration to block people from applying for asylum at the border, which it said would result in more deaths, and it included her line: "regrettably and tragically extinguishes the light of the torch of the Statue of Liberty."

CNN described the asylum policy at issue as “metering,” in which federal agents stationed at the border turn back asylum seekers before they ever step foot on US soil, and it said the policy frustrates their ability to be formally inspected by officials.

CNN added that the Supreme Court ruled that, in order to claim asylum, a foreign national must have their feet on US soil, and it said Sotomayor’s oral dissent called attention to the episode of the U.S. turning away a ship of Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany in the 1930s.