Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court Justice
"it is no secret that people of color are disproportionate
victims"
of police searches.
"By legitimizing the conduct that produces this double
consciousness,
this case tells everyone,
white and black, guilty and innocent,
that an officer can verify your legal status at any time.
It says that your body is subject to invasion
while courts excuse the violation of your rights.
It implies that you are not a citizen of a democracy
but the subject of a carceral state,
just waiting to be cataloged."
"We must not pretend that the countless people
who are routinely targeted by police
are 'isolated.'
They are the canaries in the coal mine whose deaths,
civil and literal,
warn us that no one can breathe in this atmosphere.
They are the ones who recognize that unlawful police stops
corrode all our civil liberties and threaten all our lives.
Until their voices matter too,
our justice system will continue to be anything but.
I dissent."
–
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court Justice,
2016
–
Democracy Now! Amy
Goodman & Juan Gonzalez Report:
Sotomayor "Tells It Like It Is" & Slams Racial Profiling, Illegal Search and Seizure in Scathing Dissent
June 24, 2016
Web Exclusive
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy
may not be in its final form.
AMY
GOODMAN: This is Democracy
Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy
Goodman, with Juan González.
JUAN
GONZÁLEZ: Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that evidence of a crime
can still be used in some cases even if police obtained it illegally. While the
5-3 ruling deals a blow to civil rights in favor of police powers, it is likely
to be remembered largely for the powerful dissent penned by Justice Sonia
Sotomayor, the first Latina
justice on the court.
AMY
GOODMAN: In a ruling
that cited Michelle Alexander, James Baldwin and Ta-Nehisi Coates, Judge
Sotomayor wrote, quote, "it is no secret that people of color are
disproportionate victims" of police searches. She concluded her argument
saying, quote, "By legitimizing the conduct that produces this double
consciousness, this case tells everyone, white and black, guilty and innocent,
that an officer can verify your legal status at any time. It says that your
body is subject to invasion while courts excuse the violation of your rights.
It implies that you are not a citizen of a democracy but the subject of a
carceral state, just waiting to be cataloged." Supreme Court Justice Sonia
Sotomayor went on to write, quote, "We must not pretend that the countless
people who are routinely targeted by police are 'isolated.' They are the
canaries in the coal mine whose deaths, civil and literal, warn us that no one
can breathe in this atmosphere. They are the ones who recognize that unlawful
police stops corrode all our civil liberties and threaten all our lives. Until
their voices matter too, our justice system will continue to be anything but. I
dissent." Those are the words of Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
