Sotomayor: Trump Administration's Emergency Court Appeals 'Unprecedented'

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor criticized the Trump administration's frequent use of emergency appeals during a Thursday speech at the University of Alabama School of Law. She called the volume of these urgent requests "unprecedented in the court's history."

Emergency appeals are special requests that ask the Supreme Court to quickly intervene in cases still working through lower courts. Normally, cases take months or years to reach the high court through regular channels.

Sotomayor said Trump has scored multiple victories through this emergency process. She explained that conservative justices often approve these requests because they believe blocking executive policies causes damage that's hard to undo later.

The emergency docket has become increasingly controversial as administrations use it to fast-track major policy disputes. Critics argue it forces justices to make hasty decisions on complex issues without full lower court review.