This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Sonia Sotomayor has a well-established reputation for being a leftist on the Supreme Court, supporting all manner of Democrat causes and opposing President Donald Trump.
But her comments now have moved into new territory, territory in which she is advocating for lawyers to stand up and fight.
Carefully, she did not identify Trump by name, but during a recent address, she left no doubt in the minds of many against whom she advocates opposition.
"Right now we can't lose the battles we are facing," she told a meeting of the leftist American Bar Association.
She was talking to the ABA's Tort, Trial and Insurance Practice Section, and NBC said she considered her appearance there an "act of solidarity."
Trump, meanwhile, has opposed liberal activists in the judiciary and even has advocated that there be another endorsement organization specified so that law schools would not have to work through the ABA for their graduates' authorizations.
She said, without identifying specific "battles," said, "In all of the uncertainty that exists at this moment, this is our time to stand up and be heard."
"If you're not used to fighting losing battles, don't become a lawyer. Our job is to stand for people who can't do it themselves," she said.
The comment comes amid an extended war against Trump that is being assembled by district court judges across the nation, many of whom have issued nationwide injunctions halting the president's executive actions and imposing restrictions on his executive branch agenda.
The topics on which judges have bashed back have included deporting illegal aliens, limiting American citizenship for babies born to foreigners in the U.S. illegally, a long list of environmental rules, his plans to cut waste, fraud and corruption from the government, his plans to eliminate federal bureaucracies and jobs, and much more.
Actually, according to constitutional expert Jonathan Turley, who not only has testified before Congress as an expert on the Constitution but has represented members in court in constitutional disputes, Sotomayor previously has been scorched for "making public comments that some viewed as overly political or partisan."
That topic included her demands that law students organize to support abortion rights, a subject that has been before the court many times, and undoubtedly will appear there again.
Turley noted Sotomayor's blasts "presumably" targeted President Trump.
"Sotomayor made a number of inspiring comments to encourage lawyers to pursue justice despite the odds or challenges," Turley explained.
And they "appeared to veer into more partisan territory."
Her reference to "we" was a surprise, he said, and many viewed it as a rallying call for "the left."
He explained, "Clearly, such comments are subject to different interpretations. Newspapers like the New York Times made the obvious connection, stating that it was made 'against the backdrop of immense stress on lawyers and the legal system from the Trump administration,'"
Leftist lawyer Marc Elias, a key part of the fabricated 2016 conspiracy theory assembled by Democrats that alleged "Russia collusion" against Trump's campaign, then credited Sotomayor with "solidarity" to leftist ideals.
"She understands that while we must bring difficult cases and be willing to lose, we must always fight to win. And by lending her voice in 'solidarity,' she affirmed that it is 'our time to stand up and be heard,' he said.
Turley noted that Sotomayor previously lobbied publicly for abortion, telling students, "You know, I can't change Texas' law, but you can and everyone else who may or may not like it can go out there and be lobbying forces in changing laws that you don't like. I am pointing out to that when I shouldn't, because they tell me I shouldn't. But my point is that there are going to be a lot of things you don't like," and require public action.
Turley admits he's often been critical of members of the high court for appearing before "ideologically supportive groups."
And he calls this circumstance the "rise of the celebrity justice."
He said her calls to "fight this fight" were injudicious.
"The court is set to hear a number of key cases on the Trump policies, including a key argument next week on the rapidly expanding number of national injunctions imposed by district courts. This is not the time to be seen as speaking in 'solidarity' with one side," he said.
Brianna Lynn explained at The Federalist the dangers of Sotomayor's argument for the benefit of one side.
"The fact that you have a sitting Supreme Court justice [Sonia Sotomayor] saying we have to 'Stand up' and 'Fight this fight' … is reinforcing the criticism that judicial overreach is occurring and that the judiciary is being used as a political weapon rather than the judiciary being used as a neutral arbiter of the law."
She continued, "And the fact that [Justice Sotomayor] said that we have to fight for 'lost causes' — the role of a lawyer is to zealously advocate for a client, of course. But the role of a judge is to zealously advocate for the Constitution, and those aren't always the same thing."
