Criminalize free speech

Sotomayor rebukes calls to ‘criminalize free speech’ in apparent swipe at Pam Bondi

The justice, in public remarks, didn’t name the attorney general, who has come under fire for comments to target people over “hate speech.”

By Erica Orden

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor appeared to take aim at recent remarks by Attorney General Pam Bondi vowing to “target” anyone who uses “hate speech” following the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

“Every time I listen to a lawyer-trained representative saying we should criminalize free speech in some way, I think to myself, that law school failed,” Sotomayor said while speaking on a panel Tuesday morning at New York Law School.

Bondi has come under fire for her comments Monday on a podcast hosted by Katie Miller, the wife of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.

“There’s free speech and then there’s hate speech, and there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society,” Bondi said. She added that “we will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech — and that’s across the aisle.”

On Tuesday, just prior to Sotomayor’s comments, Bondi walked back her remarks to Miller, writing in an X post that “hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment.”

“Free speech protects ideas, debate, even dissent,” she wrote, “but it does NOT and will NEVER protect violence.”

During the panel, Sotomayor never mentioned Bondi or President Donald Trump by name, but at times appeared to obliquely criticize the administration.

Answering a question about how schools can balance teaching the mechanics of government with encouraging critical thinking, she asked, “do we understand what the difference is between a king and a president?”

“I think if people understood these things from the beginning, they would be more informed as to what would be important in a democracy in terms of what people can or should not do. But you can’t make or criticize until you understand the reasoning behind the structure.”

Later, she suggested that the rule of law is under threat.

“Remember that slavery and desegregation were laws, too. The assumption that all laws are good is not necessarily a starting proposition,” she continued.

“We’ve already experienced, in our country, bad laws, laws that even the Supreme Court at one point said were unconstitutional, OK? That only happens, however, if people don’t understand … that what the rule of law means is that we’re being ruled by citizens who have thoughtfully considered and engaged in the process of law. The moment we take the people out of the equation — which is happening more and more with so many people who are not voting — once we do that, we do lose the republic.”

Sotomayor offered a bleak assessment of the current state of affairs, saying “adults have really messed” up the country.

“For me, my hope and why educating our students is so critical is because I see them as the future. They are our hope to fix the mistakes that we are making. And boy, are they big mistakes,” she said.

“Think about all the things that you see in the world that are wrong, starting with two world wars — two wars and regional conflicts. But think of everything that’s happening in the United States, and you have to pause and say, we adults have really messed this up.”