Senator Durbin once referred to America’s immigration crisis as a “crisis of humanity.” Yesterday, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor agreed when she referred to immigrants not as “illegal” or “alien” but as “undocumented.” Use of this humanizing term marks both the first ruling of Justice Sotomayor’s high court career, and also the first time such a term has been used by the Court as a whole – ever.

As reported by the New York Times:

"In an otherwise dry opinion, Justice Sotomayor did introduce one new and politically charged term into the Supreme Court lexicon.

Justice Sotomayor’s opinion in the case, Mohawk Industries v. Carpenter, No. 08-678, marked the first use of the term “undocumented immigrant,” according to a legal database. The term “illegal immigrant” has appeared in a dozen decisions."

Undocumented immigrants don’t sacrifice their humanity when they decide to cross the border. Many who come to the United States, including the undocumented, decide to come here in hopes of creating a better life for themselves and their families. What value could be more human that that?

No person is “illegal.” And as far as I know, none of us is “alien.” That Justice Sotomayor recognizes this is a hopeful signal for the future of immigration in the Court’s jurisprudence.

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