WASHINGTON, D.C. — Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued an apology Wednesday for critical remarks she made about the upbringing of fellow Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The apology was released in a statement issued by the court.

"At a recent appearance at the University of Kansas School of Law, I referred to a disagreement with one of my colleagues in a prior case, but I made remarks that were inappropriate. I regret my hurtful comments. I have apologized to my colleague." Sotomayor said in the statement.

The remarks at issue were made on April 7, when Sotomayor referred to an opinion Kavanaugh had written in a case that allowed the Trump administration to conduct broad immigration sweeps in the Los Angeles area. During that appearance, she referred to the opinion without mentioning Kavanaugh by name. He was in the majority in the case, while she dissented.

"This is from a man whose parents were professionals. And probably doesn't really know any person who works by the hour." Sotomayor said during the April 7 event, referring to Kavanaugh's background. Kavanaugh grew up in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C.

In the opinion at the center of the dispute, Kavanaugh wrote that there is a large community of undocumented immigrants in the Los Angeles area, that they tend to gather in certain locations to seek daily work, that they frequently work in construction or related jobs, and that they may not speak English. He wrote that as a result, law enforcement would likely have reasonable suspicion to stop people in many circumstances. Kavanaugh also downplayed concerns that constitutional violations were taking place during the immigration sweeps through the targeting of people without reasonable suspicion under the Fourth Amendment.