Sotomayor admits conservative Supreme Court colleagues frustrate her, tries to look for 'good' in them

"She taught me to look for the best in people," Sotomayor said of her mother. "That was the lesson that moment gave me, and it's one I look for in my colleagues."

Sotomayor appeared on Colbert's show to promote her new children's book, "Just Shine! How to Be a Better You."

She said her mother was right and added there was good in "almost" everyone. 

"Why do you see these decisions as so dangerous to our freedoms? What do you think ordinary Americans should take away from what seem to be very prescient warnings?" co-host Sunny Hostin asked Sotomayor.

"The price we pay is whatever is happening today, as I indicated, is going to affect a lot of people. But it affects your future. It affects the conduct of leaders in the future, because what we permit today is not going to be duplicated exactly tomorrow. It's going to be something different," Sotomayor began.

Sotomayor warned that precedent set by the court could be "really bad" for certain groups of people.

"And that's what's at risk, is in each time we change precedent, we are changing the contours of a right that people thought they had. Once you take that away, think of how much more is at risk later. Not just in this situation," she told the co-hosts on Tuesday.