The simultaneous book tours of Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Sonia Sotomayor put in sharp relief the degree to which the justices of the high court are embracing the spotlight as its new term is set to begin.

For the mild-mannered Justice Barrett the release of her book, “Listening to the Law,” has amounted to something of a coming out party — one for which she secured a $2 million advance. The justice, whose early years on the court were marked by an enigmatic posture that occasioned withering criticism from precincts of the MAGA right, now is emerging in a position that could make her the pivotal justice on the Roberts Court.

“Listening to the Law” offers a defense of one of Justice Barrett’s early landmark votes on the court — in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, to overturn the constitutional right to an abortion vouchsafed in Roe v. Wade. Justice Barrett writes that the “Court’s role is to respect the choices that the people have agreed upon, not to tell them what they should agree to.” Justice Barrett also joined the court’s conservatives to rule that presidents are entitled to immunity from prosecution for official acts.

Justice Barrett is in the middle of a book tour. She discussed the book with the Free Press’s Bari Weiss at Lincoln Center, and will also visit the Nixon, Reagan, and Johnson presidential libraries. She was also interviewed by the billionaire David Rubenstein at the National Book Festival. The New York Times’s review of “Listening to the Law” describes it as being written in a “civic-textbook tone.” 

At one point Justice Barrett reasons that “thinking in those categories of left and right, it’s just the wrong way to think about the law.” Justice Barrett canceled a scheduled appearance on the Times’s podcast “The Daily.”

Also hawking a new book — one for children — is Justice Sotomayor. “Just Shine! How To Be a Better You” is a collaboration between the justice and an illustrator, Jacqueline Alcantara. Its plot is inspired by the justice’s mother’s life. The book, according to its publisher, “tells the story of a little girl from Puerto Rico who had the incredible ability to see the unique qualities of others and help them shine their brightest. She listened, she understood, she worked hard and she brought out the beauty in each person.”

Justice Sotomayor, nominated to the Supreme Court by President Obama, received an advance of $1.2 million in 2010 for her memoir. “My Beloved World” was published in 2013. President Biden’s private official swearing-in was moved up by some four hours to accommodate a book signing for Justice Sotomayor at a Manhattan Barnes & Noble. It was a New York Times bestseller, with the Gray Lady calling it “searching and emotionally candid.” 

The book delved into the justice’s comment from a 2001 speech that “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” That line prompted pushback during her confirmation.

Justice Sotomayor is scheduled to discuss her new book Tuesday on “The View,” a television show that has become known for left-wing takes. The justice is also set to appear Tuesday on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” which will end in May 2026 after CBS decided to shut it down, ostensibly for financial reasons. Some reckon that the comedian’s criticisms of President Trump contributed to its demise. 

Also on tour is Justice Jackson, whose book, “Lovely One” — the English translation of her first name — appeared in 2024, also backed by a $2 million advance. The Supreme Court’s last term ended with a remarkable outbreak of acrimony, in a case involving nationwide or universal injunctions, between Justices Barrett and Jackson. 

The conservative justice called her liberal colleague’s dissenting position decrying the decision to curtail such injunctions as “untethered” from precedent or logic. She adds that “we will not dwell on Justice Jackson’s argument.” Justice Barrett told Ms. Weiss that she “thought Justice Jackson had made an argument in strong terms that I thought warranted a response.”