Justice Samuel Alito has delivered a stern rebuke to his liberal colleague Sonia Sotomayor following a landmark ruling on asylum, leaving many court observers surprised by the move.
The US Supreme Court on Thursday sided with the Trump Administration in a 6-3 decision, allowing immigration officials to turn away migrants who show up at the US-Mexico border seeking asylum. The high court ruled that migrants cannot apply for asylum until they set foot in the United States.
The three liberal justices, including Sotomayor, dissented from the ruling, with Alito writing the majority opinion. In his decision, Alito emphasized that the phrase "arrives in the United States" is typically used to indicate that a person has entered a country, not simply been present in its vicinity.
In a scathing dissent, Sotomayor described the majority opinion as "egregious" and "illogical." Her dissent was notable for its length, spanning 35 pages, nearly twice the length of Alito's majority opinion. Sotomayor read her main dissent from the bench, causing a delay in the ruling on Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian and Syrian migrants.
Alito responded to Sotomayor's dissent with a pointed remark, suggesting that he would have added more to his majority opinion had he known how long his colleague would drone on. He also emphasized that the policy in question had been used by previous administrations to manage surges in an "orderly and humane manner."
Court observers have noted that Alito's rebuke of Sotomayor was highly unusual, underscoring the extent to which his colleague had overstepped in her dissent.
