'You have to shed the tears': Justice shares that she cries after some Supreme Court cases

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor revealed last week that there are days on the nation’s highest court that take an emotional toll.

“There are days that I’ve come to my office after an announcement of a case and closed my door and cried,” Sotomayor said Friday at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, where she was receiving an award. “There have been those days. And there are likely to be more.”

Sotomayor, who is the most senior liberal-leaning justice on the court, didn't cite any specific cases or arguments that have moved her to tears.

“There are moments when I’m deeply, deeply sad,” she said. “And there are moments when, yes, even I feel desperation. We all do. But you have to own it. You have to accept it. You have to shed the tears, and then you have to wipe them and get up and fight some more.”

Sotomayor’s comments come as the Supreme Court is expected to rule on contentious cases in the coming weeks, handing down decisions on issues ranging from abortion rights to guns and free speech. The court is also expected to rule on former President Donald Trump’s claims of immunity as he faces sweeping criminal charges alleging he tried to steal the 2020 election.

But Friday didn’t mark the first time Sotomayor opened up about some of the personal impacts of serving on the court. The justice, 69, told students at the University of California, Berkley, School of Law earlier this year that she is “working harder than I ever have,” offering a rare glimpse of life on a bench dominated by conservatives.

''I live in frustration," she said in January. “Every loss truly traumatizes me in my stomach and in my heart."

Sotomayor, appointed by former President Barack Obama in 2009, is one of three current Supreme Court justices who have been appointed by Democrats. They often offer pointed and sometimes emotional dissents on controversial decisions, like the one in 2022 on abortion that overturned Roe v. Wade.

Sotomayor, along with former Justice Stephen Breyer and Justice Elena Kagan, called the decision overturning Roe v. Wade "catastrophic" in a heated dissent at the time.

Contributing: Maureen Groppe, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sonia Sotomayor shares that she cries after some Supreme Court cases