WaPo column laments 'soul-crushing task' liberal justices face working on conservative majority SCOTUS

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has been deeply disappointed at points while working with the conservative majority on the high court. (Photo by Allison Shelley/Getty Images) (2015 Getty Images)

A Friday evening Washington Post column fretted over the "soul-crushing task" of being a liberal justice on a conservative majority Supreme Court, especially as the justices may soon overturn Roe v Wade.

Washington Post deputy editorial page editor Ruth Marcus wrote, "To be a liberal justice on a Supreme Court with a conservative supermajority is a daunting — even soul-crushing — task." 

She described the role as an almost thankless job where justices on the left are usually losing, saying "In the cases that matter most, you are consigned to almost certain loss. Victory happens, if it occurs at all, only along the doctrinal edges; winning consists of avoiding greater harm." 

Marcus found the prospect of being a liberal justice so daunting that she marveled that they still manage to have respect for the job. "So how do you keep going in the face of this? How do you convince the public — more important and perhaps more difficult, how do you convince yourself — that the institution on which you are serving for life deserves legitimacy and respect, even as it proceeds to take the law in directions with which you profoundly disagree?"

The deputy editor pointed to liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor as the model of integrity on the court during "a cataclysmic moment in the history of the court, with the conservative justices seemingly poised to remove constitutional protection for abortion, expand gun rights, and lower the wall of separation between church and state." 

NBC'S TODAY.COM MARKS FATHER'S DAY WITH ABORTION ADVOCACY: 'I WOULDN'T BE A FATHER WITHOUT ABORTION'

A Washington Post column stressed how "daunting" the job of being a liberal SCOTUS justice is on a conservative majority Court.

"Justice Sonia Sotomayor offered a revealing — if not entirely convincing — glimpse into how she manages that emotional and intellectual feat," Marcus wrote. She quoted the Justice, who stated in a recent appearance, "There are moments where I am deeply, deeply disappointed. And yes, there have been moments where I’ve stopped and said, ‘Is this worth it anymore?’ And every time I do that, I lick my wounds for a while. Sometimes I cry. And then I say, okay — let’s fight."

In response to a question from her former law clerk Tiffany Wright, Sotomayor insisted that we have "to have continuing faith in the court system, in our system of government, in our ability … to regain the public’s confidence that we as a court, as an institution, have not lost our way." 

Though Marcus kept repeating how hard Sotomayor’s job must be in light of "three new conservative justices joining the court" during the Trump administration. She mentioned Sotomayor’s "unsparing question" asked during the court’s oral arguments over Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in December.

"Will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts? I don’t see how it is possible," she asked. 

Pro-abortion rights activists protest outside the Supreme Court building, ahead of arguments in the Mississippi abortion rights case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, in Washington, December 1, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

MINNESOTA PREGNANCY CENTER VANDALIZED BY 'JANE'S REVENGE': 'WE SHOULD’VE DONE MORE'

Marcus then recounted Sotomayor’s frustration when the Supreme Court refused to block the Texas "Heartbeat Bill" from going into state law. "Presented with an application to enjoin a flagrantly unconstitutional law engineered to prohibit women from exercising their constitutional rights and evade judicial scrutiny, a majority of Justices have opted to bury their heads in the sand," the justice stated. The author also mentioned how Sotomayor described the conservative majority Court as "restless and newly constituted."

Marcus once again reminded readers of the high stakes Sotomayor and her liberal allies face working in the conservative Court, writing, "Consignment to a semi-permanent minority is not what they (apart from Jackson) signed up for, but it is where they are. Their greatest influence will not be directly on the court itself, but on how the public perceives its action."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The author concluded with one last dig at the conservative-controlled institution. "Because this newly constituted court isn’t going to be reshaped anytime soon. The next few weeks will demonstrate just how ‘restless’ it is. But we already had ample reason to worry — even before Sotomayor chose to deploy that unsettling adjective."

FILE: From left to right, Supreme court associate Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer. (Reuters)