Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor says she has faith court orders will be honored

(CNN) — Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said Tuesday that she has faith federal court orders will be honored in the United States amid a roiling debate over President Donald Trump’s commitment to following judicial rulings that have put some of his policies on hold.

“Court decisions stand,” the high court’s most senior liberal justice said during an event in Miami. “Whether one particular person chooses to abide by them or not, it doesn’t change the foundation that it’s still a court order that someone will respect at some point.”

“That’s the faith that I have in our system,” she said.

Sotomayor avoided any specific mention of the Trump administration, which has flirted in recent days with the notion that federal courts are overstepping their authority as they temporarily suspend some of the president’s policies to review whether they are legal. Vice President JD Vance drew considerable criticism this week after taking to social media to question whether courts can block any of Trump’s agenda.

“Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” Vance wrote in part.

“I’m not getting too much into that,” Sotomayor demurred at first when asked at an event hosted by the Knight Foundation about the importance of checks and balances in maintaining democracy.

“We’ve had moments where it’s been tested but, by in large, we have been a country who has understood that the rule of law has helped us maintain our democracy,” she said. “But it’s also because the court has proceeded cautiously and has proceeded understanding that it has to proceed slowly.”

Asked at the White House earlier Tuesday whether he’ll comply with court rulings, Trump said that he would.

“Well, I always abide by the courts, and then I’ll have to appeal it – but then what he’s done is he’s slowed down the momentum, and it gives crooked people more time to cover up the books,” Trump said. “So yeah, the answer is I always abide by the courts, always abide by them. And we’ll appeal, but appeals take a long time.”

Sotomayor’s remarks echoed points Chief Justice John Roberts made late last year in an annual report. Roberts at the time described as “dangerous” talk by some officials, whom he did not name, about ignoring federal court rulings.

Officials “from across the political spectrum have raised the specter of open disregard for federal court rulings,” Roberts wrote in the report, released by the Supreme Court on New Year’s Eve. “These dangerous suggestions, however sporadic, must be soundly rejected.”

The Supreme Court has been on a short break from oral arguments since the week of Trump’s inauguration. Earlier this month, in separate remarks, Sotomayor suggested that some of the court’s decisions may have risked the legitimacy of the institution, according to the Associated Press.

She returned to the theme briefly while speaking in Miami on Tuesday.

“We must be cognizant that every time we upset precedent, we upset peoples’ expectation in the stability of the law,” Sotomayor said, without mentioning specific cases. “It rocks the boat in a way that makes people uneasy about whether they’re protected or not protected by the law.”

CNN’s Devan Cole contributed to this report.

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