Justice & Law Quote by Sonia Sotomayor

The line has the clipped, bench-tested rhythm of a reprimand: a reminder that the courtroom is not group therapy and the Constitution is not a mood ring. Sotomayor frames judging as an almost mechanical sequence - facts in, law out - because that’s the posture institutional legitimacy demands. Courts can’t promise everyone will feel seen; they can promise a method.

The intent is defensive and strategic. In a culture that increasingly reads every public dispute through personal identity and moral affect, “feelings” becomes shorthand for bias, sympathy, and political preference. The subtext: don’t confuse empathy with decision-making. Sotomayor is implicitly answering a familiar attack on judges, especially women and jurists of color: that they’re “too emotional” or “activist,” guided by personal narratives rather than doctrine. By drawing a hard line, she asserts professional discipline and protects the judiciary’s claim to neutrality.

Context matters because Sotomayor has also been publicly associated with the idea that life experience shapes perception. Critics seized on that to argue she would privilege sentiment over statute. This sentence works as a counterweight: yes, judges are human, but the job is to subordinate the human impulse to the legal framework. It’s also a subtle lesson to the public: outrage and pain can be politically potent, but in court they’re not self-authenticating evidence. If you want justice, bring the record.