Supreme Court Needs to Stay Out of Politics, Two Justices Say

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Supreme Court needs to stay above the political fray, two justices said just hours after the Senate cleared the way for Brett Kavanaugh to be confirmed to the court after a bitter partisan fight.

Without mentioning Kavanaugh by name or referring to the confirmation fight, Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor sought to distance themselves from the political rancor that has enveloped Washington over his nomination.

"This is a really divided time," Kagan said. "And part of the court’s strength and part of the court’s legitimacy depends on people not seeing the court in the way that people see the rest of the governing structures in this country."

The two spoke at the "She Roars" conference at Princeton University. Both justices are Democratic appointees and Princeton graduates.

"We have to rise above partisanship in our personal relationships," Sotomayor said. "We have to treat each other with respect and dignity and with a sense of amicability that the rest of the world doesn’t often share."

Kagan said the court needs to protect its institutional reputation by staying "somehow above the fray, even if not always and in every case. It’s an incredibly important thing for the court to guard."

She said the justices can’t afford to hold grudges because they would lose the ability to persuade their colleagues in future cases.

"We live in this world where it’s just the nine of us," Kagan said. "We are the consummate repeat players."

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