I am an ordinary person who has been blessed with extraordinary opportunities and experiences.
Sonia SotomayorRead
The task of a judge is not to make the law - it is to apply the law.
Interpretation
Judges are responsible for interpreting and enforcing laws, rather than creating them.
Sonia Sotomayor's quote emphasizes the pivotal role of judges in the legal system, where their primary function is to ensure that the law is applied fairly and accurately. This statement reflects the principle of separation of powers, indicating that the judiciary's duty is to uphold the law as it is written, leaving the creation of laws to the legislative branch.
In practice
In a law school class discussing judicial responsibilities.
I am an ordinary person who has been blessed with extraordinary opportunities and experiences.
This wealth of experiences, personal and professional, have helped me appreciate the variety of perspectives that present themselves in every case that I hear.
I was fifteen years old when I understood how it is that things break down: people can't imagine someone else's point of view.
The truth is that since childhood I had cultivated an existential independence. It came from perceiving the adults around me as unreliable, and without it I felt I wouldn't have survived. I cared deeply for everyone in my family, but in the end I depended on myself.
As you discover what strength you can draw from your community in this world from which it stands apart, look outward as well as inward. Build bridges instead of walls.
There are uses to adversity, and they don't reveal themselves until tested. Whether it's serious illness, financial hardship, or the simple constraint of parents who speak limited English, difficulty can tap unexpected strengths.
In the last analysis, our every right is only worth what our lawyer makes it worth.
I start out with the assumption that a lawyer in a criminal case is going to be incompetent - substantially so. I find my assumption to be rarely wrong. Yet society starts out with the very opposite assumption.
Statutes authorizing unreasonable searches were the core concern of the framers of the 4th Amendment.
The language of the law must not be foreign to the ears of those who are to obey it.
Commitment to the rule of law provides a basic assurance that people can know what to expect whether what they do is popular or unpopular at the time.
The critical point is that the Constitution places the right of silence beyond the reach of government.
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