最高法院法官索尼娅·索托马约尔周三发表了罕见的公开道歉，她称之为针对布雷特·卡瓦诺(Brett Kavanaugh)法官的“不恰当”言论，因为他去年投票允许特朗普政府采取激进的移民执法策略，批评者称之为种族定性。
“我吃过了索托马约尔上周在堪萨斯大学法学院(University of Kansas School of Law)说，那起案件中的一位同事写道，你知道，这些只是‘暂时停止’。”他指的是卡瓦诺对此案的赞同意见。这是一个人说的，他的父母是专业人士。可能真的不认识按小时工作的人。"
尽管法院的大多数成员没有正式解释其取消针对加州涉嫌未经授权移民的移民和海关执法局战略的限制令的决定，但卡瓦诺单独写道，解释他的观点，即“明显的种族”可能是确定拘留一个人的可能原因的“相关因素”。
他还表示，他希望联邦执法部门为确定一个人的法律地位而进行的任何拦截都是“暂时的”和合理的。
索托马约尔法官与埃琳娜·卡根法官和凯坦吉·布朗·杰克森法官一起反对法院的判决。
索托马约尔在她的异议书中写道:“我们不应该生活在一个政府可以逮捕任何看起来像拉丁美洲人、说西班牙语、似乎从事低薪工作的人的国家。”"我反对在我们的宪法自由丧失时袖手旁观."
索托马约尔在公开场合提出的不同寻常的个人批评引起了法律界的极大关注，一些卡瓦诺的盟友要求道歉。
在法院周三发布的一份声明中，她说她对所说的话感到“后悔”。
索托马约尔在一份声明中说:“最近在堪萨斯大学法学院的一次露面中，我提到了在之前的一个案件中与我的一位同事的分歧，但我发表了不恰当的言论。”“我为自己伤人的言论感到后悔。我已经向我的同事道歉了。”
索托马约尔上周在阿拉巴马大学(University of Alabama)露面时强调了在板凳上保持合议和礼貌精神的重要性，称她与同龄人保持着“文明”的关系，如果不是“友好”的话。
法官们下周回到法官席，开始他们四月份的口头辩论。
Justice Sotomayor apologizes to Justice Kavanaugh for public criticism of immigration opinion
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a rare public apology Wednesday over what she called "inappropriate" remarks aimed at Justice Brett Kavanaugh for his vote last year to allow aggressive Trump administration immigration enforcement tactics, which critics had called racial profiling.
“I hada colleague in that case who wrote, you know, these are only 'temporary stops,'” Sotomayor said at the University of Kansas School of Law last week, referring to Kavanaugh's concurring opinion in the case. “This is from a man whose parents were professionals. And probably doesn’t really know any person who works by the hour.”
While the Court's majority did not formally explain its decision to lift a restraining order against the ICE strategy for targeting suspected unauthorized immigrants in California, Kavanaugh wrote separately to explain his view that "apparent ethnicity" could be a "relevant factor" in determining probable cause to detain a person.
He also indicated that it was his expectation that any federal law enforcement stop to determine a person's legal status would be "temporary" and reasonable.
Justice Sotomayor was joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson in dissenting from the Court's decision.
"We should not have to live in a country where the Government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low-wage job," Sotomayor wrote in her dissent. "Rather than stand idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost, I dissent."
The unusually personal criticism leveled in public by Sotomayor drew significant attention in legal circles,with some Kavanaugh allies calling for an apology.
In a statement released by the Court on Wednesday, she said she had "regret" for what was said.
"At a recent appearance at the University of Kansas School of Law, I referred to a disagreement with one of my colleagues in a prior case, but I made remarks that were inappropriate," Sotomayor said in a statement. "I regret my hurtful comments. I have apologized to my colleague."
During an appearance last week at the University of Alabama, Sotomayor had stressed the importance of preserving a spirit of collegiality and civility off the bench, saying she maintained "civil" if not "friendly" relationships with her peers.
The justices return to the bench next week to begin their April session of oral arguments.
