Sonia Sotomayor projects optimism for the judicial system: “The wrong things can be changed”

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Wednesday urged law students to channel their disappointment with the American judicial system into fighting for change.

In an appearance at New York’s Fordham University School of Law, where she took questions from attendees, the liberal justice attributed some of the disenfranchisement Americans feel with the Supreme Court to “decisions of my court that are upending the law approaches in ways that people don’t understand,” according to CNN.

Last summer, the vast conservative majority of the court destroyed the landmark Roe v. abortion decision. Wade, nullifying the right to abortion and sparking protests across the country. The ruling prompted many states to ban or severely restrict the procedure.

The unprecedented leak of a draft opinion before the decision also rocked the court.

But Sotomayor advised the students not to give up on justice.

“Bad things can be changed,” he said.

“The arc of the universe is tilted toward justice, but we have to help,” he continued.

Sotomayor said the courts are “taking an even more prominent place in resolving political disputes because the political powers can’t.”

He did not name any pending cases, but noted that he has been on the losing end of many of the latest high-profile decisions, given the court’s 6-3 composition.

The judges must rule on several important cases this term, including that of the president Joe Bidenstudent loan forgiveness plan that could affect millions of Americans.

Sotomayor, nominated by the president Barack Obamahe was confirmed to the Supreme Court in 2009, making history as the first Hispanic high court judge.