Overview
- Justices took the bench on Thursday to announce multiple opinions, when Justice Samuel Alito read a majority opinion limiting asylum access and Justice Sonia Sotomayor then spoke up to read a forceful dissent.
- Sotomayor warned the asylum ruling would lead to deaths and said it “regrettably and tragically extinguishes the light of the torch of the Statue of Liberty,” invoking a 1939 refugee ship as historical context.
- Alito reacted on the bench by saying he had been surprised and that he would have added more to his summary if he had known a dissent would be read aloud.
- A court spokesperson later said Justice Alito had been notified in advance by Sotomayor’s chambers and described his reaction as a misunderstanding, the principal update to initial impressions of the exchange.
- The episode came alongside two reported 6-3 immigration decisions that limit asylum at the southern border and let the administration end Temporary Protected Status, a pattern observers say highlights rising public tensions and could affect migrants’ ability to seek protection.