Speaking at an event in Louisville, Kentucky, Sotomayor said she feared the Supreme Court was moving too quickly in reshaping legal precedent, leading to a loss of public confidence.

“If we as a court go so much further ahead of people, our legitimacy is going to be questioned,” she said, according to the Associated Press. “I don’t think that Americans have accepted that anyone should be above the law in America.”

“I think the immunity case is one of those situations,” she added. “Our equality as people was the foundation of our society and of our Constitution.”

The remarks mark her first public comments since President Donald Trump began his second term, and they reflected her strong dissent in the Trump v. United States ruling. In that 6-3 decision, the Republican-appointed majority on the court, led by Chief Justice John Roberts, determined that former presidents have broad immunity for core official acts.

Sotomayor, one of three Democratic-appointed justices on the bench alongside Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, issued a strongly worded dissent in that ruling, arguing it effectively placed former presidents “above the law.”

“The majority makes three moves that, in effect, completely insulate Presidents from criminal liability,” Sotomayor wrote in her dissenting opinion. “That holding, which will prevent the Government from using a President’s official acts to prove knowledge or intent in prosecuting private offenses, is nonsensical.”

Beyond the immunity ruling, Sotomayor also took aim at the court’s broader approach to precedent. She pointed to landmark reversals, including the overturning of Roe v. Wade and affirmative action in college admissions, arguing that rapid shifts create public instability.

Sotomayor has seen many changes on the bench since she was first confirmed in 2009 after being appointed by then-President Barack Obama. During that time, Justices Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer have retired, and Trump made Justice Amy Coney Barrett his third appointee after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2020. With at least three current justices over the age of 70, some experts have speculated Trump could have the chance to fill the shoes of an additional retiree in the next four years.

Despite Sotomayor’s concerns, recent data collected from several pollsters reveal that the public’s perception of the Supreme Court is in better standing than it has been since the May 2022 leak of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization opinion, which signaled the imminent reversal of Roe v. Wade at the time.

A survey from Marquette Law School in December found 48% of adults approve of the job the Supreme Court is doing, up from 45% approval in October. However, polling conducted specifically about the immunity decision reflected a higher level of public disagreement with it.

Sotomayor refrained from accusing her colleagues of partisanship, saying she understands “in good faith” that they believe the ruling “better promotes our democracy.”

“But whether that’s true or not is irrelevant if people are feeling insecure in the changes that they’re instituting at a pace that they can’t absorb,” Sotomayor added.