Politics Justice Sonia Sotomayor Admits Potential for SCOTUS to Make 'Mistakes' but Explains Why She Still Has 'Faith' "There are days I get discouraged. There are moments where I am deeply, deeply disappointed," the liberal justice said. "Sometimes I cry, and then I say, 'OK, let's fight'" By Aaron Parsley Aaron Parsley Aaron Parsley is a former senior news editor at PEOPLE. He left PEOPLE in 2023. People Editorial Guidelines Published on June 17, 2022 11:34AM EDT Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Photo: ERIN SCHAFF/POOL/AFP via Getty Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor shared an optimistic point of view during an appearance Thursday as the country braces for a flurry of decisions — including on abortion rights — expected in the coming weeks. "If it doesn't kill me, it makes me stronger," Sotomayor, 67, told the audience at the American Constitution Society conference in Washington, according to ABC News. "That is what adversity does to you." Following a leak of a draft opinion in May that indicated the court appears likely to overturn two landmark cases guaranteeing nationwide abortion access, Sotomayor didn't reveal any hints about when — or what — the court will officially rule on the white-hot issue, nor on others such as gun rights, immigration, religion and climate change. Sonia Sotomayor on Wise Words That Helped When 'People Said I Wasn't Smart Enough' for Supreme Court Whatever the eventual outcomes, Sotomayor pointed to history as evidence that "mistakes" can be corrected by other branches of the government or when "the people have worked to make change." "Dred Scott lost his 11-year battle for freedom in the courts ... Yet he won the war," Sotomayor said, according to Reuters, referring to an 1857 decision that denied rights of enslaved and free Black people in the pre-Civil War United States. "So that's why I think we have to have continuing faith in the court system, in our system of government, in our ability — I hope not through war — but through constitutional amendment, to change in legislation, towards lobbying, towards continuing the battle each day to regain the public's confidence that we as a court, as an institution have not lost our way," she continued. Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer. Supreme Court justices. Erin Schaff-Pool/Getty The justice, who was appointed by President Barack Obama and has served on the Supreme Court since 2009, admitted that she does not always feel upbeat. "There are days I get discouraged. There are moments where I am deeply, deeply disappointed," she said, according to The New York Times. "And yes, there have been moments when I've stopped and said, 'Is this worth it anymore?' And every time when I do that, I lick my wounds for a while, sometimes I cry, and then I say, 'OK, let's fight.'" Sonia Sotomayor's New Book Inspired by Her Late Mother: 'She Danced 'Til the Last Days of Her Life' Sotomayor urged people who believe the country is heading in the wrong direction to "continue to battle to do justice" and repeated an adage used by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to encourage persistence through time. "I truly believe in the magical words, 'The arc of the universe bends towards justice,'" she said, according to HuffPost.