September 9, 2025
The 6-3 decision of the conservative-majority court is a major win for President Donald Trump
Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor is blasting the conservative justices on the Supreme Court who lifted a federal judge’s orders that will ultimately greenlight racial profiling from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
The 6-3 decision of the conservative-majority court is a major win for President Donald Trump, who has vowed to conduct record-level deportations of undocumented immigrants. Monday, the Supreme Court justices ruled it’s okay for ICE agents to stop suspects based solely on their race, language, or job. This lifts a federal judge’s order that had barred agents from making stops without reasonable suspicion, as Axios reported.
Sotomayor, joined by fellow liberal justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, issued a blistering dissent to their conservative colleagues.
“The Government, and now the concurrence, has all but declared that all Latinos, U. S. citizens or not, who work low-wage jobs are fair game to be seized at any time, taken away from work, and held until they provide proof of their legal status to the agents’ satisfaction,” Sotomayer wrote.
She continued, “Countless people in the Los Angeles area have been grabbed, thrown to the ground, and handcuffed simply because of their looks, their accents, and the fact they make a living by doing manual labor,” Sotomayer wrote. “Today, the Court needlessly subjects countless more to these exact same indignities.”
“The Court’s order is troubling for another reason: It is entirely unexplained. In the last eight months, this Court’s appetite to circumvent the ordinary appellate process and weigh in on important issues has grown exponentially […] Its interest in explaining itself, unfortunately, has not.”
To conclude, Sotomayor wrote that Monday’s ruling means the Fourth Amendment may no longer protect the rights of people “who happen to look a certain way, speak a certain way, and appear to work a certain type of legitimate job that pays very little. Because this is unconscionably irreconcilable with our Nation’s constitutional guarantees, I dissent.”
Democrats Respond To Supreme Court Racial Profile Ruling
The White House welcomed the ruling and doubled down on its vow to “continue fulfilling its mandate to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens.” Meanwhile, Democrats are criticizing the decision.
“Trump’s hand-picked Supreme Court majority just became the Grand Marshal for a parade of racial terror in Los Angeles,” California Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “This isn’t about enforcing immigration laws — it’s about targeting Latinos and anyone who doesn’t look or sound like Stephen Miller’s idea of an American, including U.S. citizens and children, to deliberately harm California’s families and small businesses.”
Newsom added, “Trump’s private police force now has a green light to come after your family — and every person is now a target — but we will continue fighting these abhorrent attacks on Californians.”
In a separate response, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass warned Americans that the Supreme Court’s decision affects more than just California residents.
“I want the entire nation to hear me when I say this isn’t just an attack on the people of Los Angeles, this is an attack on every person in every city in this country. Today’s ruling is not only dangerous – it’s un-American and threatens the fabric of personal freedom in the United States of America,” she wrote.
Bass continued, “The highest court in the country ruled that the White House and masked federal agents can racially profile Angelenos with no due process, snatch them off the street with no evidence or warrant, and take them away with no explanation. This decision will lead to more working families being torn apart and fear of the very institutions meant to protect – not persecute – our people.”
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