The Supreme Court is handing down major opinions, but even with some of the biggest decisions yet to come, there are signs of tension between the justices. One highly unusual exchange came as the members of the nation’s highest court took the bench to read a short summary of their decisions, including two major immigration wins for President Donald Trump.

Immigration Rulings

After conservative Justice Samuel Alito finished his reading of the majority’s ruling limiting how people can seek asylum at the southern border, liberal Sonia Sotomayor spoke up to read from her dissent. She traced the difficult journey many asylum seekers face and outlined a painful chapter in the country’s history: when the U.S. and other countries turned back a ship full of Jewish refugees attempting to flee persecution in Nazi Germany in 1939.

Sotomayor said the majority’s opinion would allow the Trump administration to block people from applying for asylum at the border, which would result in more deaths. The decision “regrettably and tragically extinguishes the light of the torch of the Statue of Liberty.” Justice Brett Kavanaugh watched her intently as she spoke, while Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson looked straight ahead.

Court Dynamics

Majority opinions are always read from the bench and dissenters can speak up as well to underscore their objections, which typically happens in few cases every term. More rulings are expected on Monday. Sotomayor’s spoken dissent, however, appeared to be a surprise for Alito. In a very rare move, he spoke off the cuff, sounding surprised and frustrated, saying he would have added more detail to his summary if he’d known about plans to speak.

The exchange comes during the court’s busiest time of the year, as the justices prepare to release opinions next week on some of the biggest issues of the term, and Trump’s presidency so far. Those include his push to restrict birthright citizenship and expand the president’s power to fire board members at independent agencies.

Original reporting: KTSA News/Talk (San Antonio) — read the source article.