NEW YORK — Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor urged a nationwide strengthening of civic education on Tuesday, saying Americans need clearer instruction about the differences between democratic institutions and monarchies to make informed decisions in a republic.
Speaking at a panel during a “Constitution and Citizenship Day Summit” at New York Law School, Sotomayor did not take aim at any specific political figure or top current controversies but said a lack of civics teaching and the rise of online misinformation risk leaving voters and future lawyers ill-prepared to uphold democratic norms.
“Do we understand what the difference is between a king and a president?” Sotomayor asked the audience, saying that if people learned those distinctions early, “they would be more informed as to what would be important in a democracy in terms of what people can or shouldn’t do.” She recalled her own retelling of Benjamin Franklin’s quip at the close of the Constitutional Convention: “We have a republic, madam, if we can keep it.”
Sotomayor described social media as “one of the largest causes of misinformation on the internet,” warning that when people “are only hearing one side of the story, you are not making an informed decision.” She said the complexity of modern issues makes broad civic understanding especially important.
The justice called for mandatory civic education in law schools and suggested incorporating some form of public service into legal training, while urging a flexible definition of what public service might entail. “I don't think it's working for the government or anything like that,” she said, describing public service as potentially including efforts outside the classroom that positively affect a community.
Without naming specific incidents or current disputes, Sotomayor criticized lawyers who advocate for criminalizing certain forms of speech. “The thing that gets to me is every time I listen to a lawyer-trained representative saying we should criminalize free speech in some way. I think to myself: ‘That law school failed,’” she said. “If any student, who becomes a lawyer hasn’t been taught civics, then the law school has failed.”
Sotomayor traced her own interest in civics to grammar school, where she began debating issues and learned to argue both sides of a question. She urged students in the auditorium and those watching on overflow screens to consider the problems facing the United States and to take responsibility for devising solutions. “We adults have really messed this up,” she said, adding that she is counting on the next generation to find remedies.
Her remarks come amid ongoing national conversations about civic education, the health of democratic institutions and the role of social media in public discourse. Sotomayor’s appeal for stronger instruction in civics and a greater emphasis on public service in legal education aligns with a broader push among educators and civic leaders to bolster curricula that teach the functions of government, rights and responsibilities of citizens, and the limits of public power.
The summit at New York Law School focused on constitutional principles and citizenship education, drawing legal scholars, educators and students to discuss how to strengthen civic understanding ahead of future elections and civic decisions.