By Sonia Sotomayor is not having a good time. The most reliably liberal justice on the Supreme Court, she recently claimed to be “traumatized” by all the losing she’s been experiencing while conservatives hold a 6-3 majority.
“I live in frustration. And as you heard, every loss truly traumatizes me in my stomach and in my heart. But I have to get up the next morning and keep on fighting,” Sotomayor told a group of students at an event at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.
“How can you look at those people and say that you’re entitled to despair? You’re not. I’m not,” she said, responding to a question from the school’s dean about how students there increasingly feel discouraged by the current court and how it’s shaping American law. “Change never happens on its own. Change happens because people care about moving the arc of the universe toward justice, and it can take time and it can take frustration.”
Now, it’s been revealed that the justice has been traveling with a “medic” as she continues to face health problems.
The revelation comes from newly released U.S. Marshals Service records obtained by the nonpartisan court watchdog Fix the Court, which requested information about security for current and former Supreme Court justices. And it amplifies questions that many only whisper about the long-term fitness of the oldest Democratic-appointed justice on the court, writes Huffington Post.
In February 2018, a medic from Grand Junction, Colorado, accompanied Sotomayor on a trip she made to southern Florida, according to the records.
On a three-day book tour with stops in Illinois and Tennessee in October of that year, the Marshals Service incurred costs for “baggage (medic),” which could refer to medical personnel or be a more benign reference to medical equipment in the justice’s luggage. Sotomayor was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 7 and gives herself insulin shots multiple times a day.
Both trips occurred after a January 2018 episode in which paramedics treated her at her home for low blood sugar.
In 2021 and 2022, Sotomayor made at least four trips — to Florida, New York and Puerto Rico — in which the Marshals Service mentioned baggage containing “medical gear,” or redacted a description of “baggage/medical supplies.”
Sotomayor has long been open about her experience with type 1 diabetes. Diagnosed at a young age, she has sometimes faced challenges with managing her health condition. Despite the demands of her position on the Supreme Court, she has been an advocate for diabetes awareness and has spoken publicly about the importance of managing the disease effectively.
That probably won’t put liberal minds at east, however, explained The Washington Examiner. “The dilemma over the revelations surrounding 69-year-old Sotomayor’s health recalls the controversial decision by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg not to retire under former President Barack Obama. When Ginsburg died in September 2020, former President Donald Trump was able to nominate and confirm Justice Amy Coney Barrett, cementing his third addition to the high court and securing a 6-3 majority of Republican-appointed members on the high court.
During a Jan. 30 discussion on CNN This Morning regarding Sotomayor’s recent public comments about her feelings of fatigue over the high court’s ever-expanding Supreme Court docket, anchor Phil Mattingly asked reporter and podcast host Josh Barro about the intent behind her statement.
‘It’s quite possible the Democrats will lose control of the Senate in the next election, and who knows how long it could be before there’s a next opportunity for a Democratic president to make a new appointment into the seat she sits in. Justice Scalia stuck around through the 2006 election, did not make it to 2017, which would have been the next opportunity,’ Barro said.
Sotomayor, the eldest of three Democratic-appointed justices, has served 15 years on the court; justices have a lifetime tenure on the bench. The oldest member of the court is 75-year-old Clarence Thomas.”
During 2021, the liberal legal organization Demand Justice conducted a campaign in an effort to influence then-Justice Stephen Breyer to step down from the high court, aiming to create an opportunity for a younger liberal justice to take his place.
“We are now firmly in the window when past justices have announced their retirement, so it’s officially worrisome that Justice Breyer has not said yet that he will step down. The only responsible choice for Justice Breyer is to immediately announce his retirement so President Biden can quickly nominate the first-ever Black woman Supreme Court justice,” said Demand Justice Executive Director Brian Fallon. “We cannot afford to risk Democrats losing control of the Senate before a Biden nominee can be confirmed. Justice Breyer is not entitled to the benefit of the doubt at this point. Those worried about the Court’s future should speak up to ensure he understands the need for him to time his retirement wisely.”
Will they soon be making the same argument for Sotomayor?
[Read More: MSNBC Host Goes Completely Bonkers]
