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Alito Bristles at Sotomayor Dissent
Newser • • general
Key Points:
- Justice Sonia Sotomayor delivered a rare and forceful dissent aloud against a Supreme Court ruling allowing asylum seekers to be turned away at the border for not having technically "arrived" in the U.S.
- Sotomayor criticized the majority opinion as "egregiously" wrong and "illogical," arguing that in everyday terms, a person does not "arrive" in a country until they physically enter it.
- She invoked historical context, referencing the 1939 denial of Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust, to highlight the moral implications and the court's betrayal of the legacy of protecting persecuted individuals.
- Justice Samuel Alito, author of the majority opinion, responded with visible frustration, noting he would have spoken longer had he known Sotomayor planned such an extended dissent.
- Reading a dissent from the bench is an uncommon practice, typically signaling profound disagreement within the Court on critical issues like asylum and immigration policy.
