photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor speaks to a crowd of about 1,700 people at the Lied Center on the University of Kansas campus on April 7, 2026.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said Wednesday that she had apologized to a fellow justice for comments she made during a speech at the University of Kansas last week.

Sotomayor told The New York Times and other media outlets on Wednesday that she had apologized to Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh for comments she made about her colleague while participating in a moderated discussion hosted by the KU law school on April 7 at the Lied Center.

“I made remarks that were inappropriate,” Sotomayor told The Times in a written statement. “I regret my hurtful comments. I have apologized to my colleague.”

As the Journal-World reported the evening of Sotomayor’s invitation-only event in Lawrence, she spoke pointedly about one of her colleagues.

“There are some people who can’t understand our experiences, even when you tell them,” Sotomayor said in response to a question about her strong dissent in the immigration case Noem v Vasquez Perdomo. “I have a colleague in that case who wrote, you know, these are only temporary stops.”

As the Journal-World reported that evening: “Sotomayor said her colleague — she didn’t name him — likely doesn’t have much familiarity with blue collar workers who punch a clock and get paid by the hour.” In stating the lack of familiarity her colleague has with blue collar workers, Sotomayor made a point to note “this is a man whose parents were professionals and probably doesn’t really know any person who works by the hour or the piece like I do.”

While Sotomayor did not name Kavanaugh during the event that drew a crowd of about 1,700 people to the Lied Center, watchers of the court had no trouble decoding her reference, based on the opinion Kavanaugh issued in the case.

Two days after her speech at KU — which was part of a two-day visit to the university that included events with law students, faculty, elementary students and other university guests — The Wall Street Journal wrote an editorial criticizing Sotomayor’s comments at the KU event.

Sotomayor made the remarks during the event after being asked about the immigration case by the co-moderators of the event, KU Law alumnae, Mary H. Murguía, the chief judge of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and Janet Murguía, president and CEO of the Latino civil rights organization UnidosUS.

While Sotomayor — the first Latina member of the court — brought up the background of her fellow justice unprompted, she did so while also telling the crowd that she believes life experiences matter greatly in her job as a jurist.

“Life experiences teach you to think more broadly, and to see things others may not,” the Journal-World quoted Sotomayor that evening.