Supreme Court 'coming apart' as justices lob 'chilling' public attacks: analysis

The Supreme Court's infighting has spilled out into public view, and it paints an ugly picture of the judicial body, according to a political analyst.

The New York Times opinion columnist Jesse Wegman believes recent activity from Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Brett Kavanaugh, and Clarence Thomas highlights the trouble brewing inside the Supreme Court. Wegman wrote, "We’ve come to expect diatribes against entire swaths of the country from the Trump administration, but to hear a Supreme Court justice do it is somehow more chilling.

"All Supreme Court justices are at risk of huffing their own fumes. It comes along with the lifetime appointment, the endless cosseting and flattery. It’s easy for them to forget that they play a unique role in American life, and are held to a higher standard of behavior than the rest of us.

"These days, the Supreme Court sometimes feels as if it is slowly coming apart, the victim of both its own members’ arrogance and the hardball politics that Senate Republicans used to pack the court with right-wingers over the past decade."

Thomas, earlier this month, delivered a scathing critique of progressivism during a speech at the University of Texas Austin Law School, characterizing the political philosophy as fundamentally incompatible with American constitutional principles.

Thomas argued that progressivism seeks to replace the foundational premises of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution itself. "Progressivism seeks to replace the basic premises of the Declaration of Independence and hence our form of government," Thomas stated. "[Progressivism] holds that our rights and our dignities come not from God, but from government."

Sotomayor also made headlines earlier this month for a scathing put-down of Kavanaugh. Speaking at the University of Kansas School of Law earlier this month, Sotomayor said Kavanaugh "probably doesn’t really know any person who works by the hour" in response to a question about a recent case concerning immigration law.

In the case, Kavanaugh argued that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents should be allowed to conduct what's known as "roving stops" to check someone's immigration status.

Sotomayor publicly apologized to Kavanaugh a week later. In her statement, Sotomayor 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. I regret my hurtful comments. I have apologized to my colleague."