Justice Sotomayor questions if Americans know the difference between presidents and kings

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned that poor civics education means Americans may not know the difference between a president and a king.

Liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Tuesday warned that the poor quality of civics education means Americans may not know the difference between a president and a king.

Sotomayor bemoaned the lack of education about such issues as the rule of law, saying not enough people have a basic understanding of the power of the president and the limits imposed upon that authority by the Constitution.

"Do we understand what the difference is between a king and a president?" she said at a civics conference held at New York Law School in Manhattan. "And I think if people understood these things from the beginning, they would be more informed as to what would be important in a democracy."

Sotomayor did not directly address the fractious political moment, with President Donald Trump adopting an aggressive use of unilateral executive power.

Justice Sotomayor discusses her new children's book and mother's legacy05:35She has been a dissenting voice as the Supreme Court has green-lit many of those actions, including Trump's downsizing of federal agencies and firing of officials whom Congress intended to be protected from political influence.