Washington DC - Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Tuesday suggested that President Donald Trump should avoid undermining the authority of the judiciary.

During an appearance at Miami Dade College, Sotomayor took the opportunity to stress the importance of a separation of powers within the US, with respect and authority shared equally between them.

Sotomayor pointed out that Congress has the power of the purse, and the judiciary has the power to check the executive on breaches of the law and overreaches of responsibility.

"Our founders were hellbent on ensuring that we didn't have a monarchy, and the first way they thought of that was to give Congress the power of the purse," Sotomayor was cited as saying by the Daily Beast.

Donald Trump Trump drops ominous hints about judges amid fears of constitutional crisis

"Court decisions stand, whether one particular person chooses to abide by them or not," she said, while carefully not mentioning names and keeping things in broad terms.

"It doesn't change the foundation that it's still a court order that someone will respect at some point... Good colleagues sometimes have silly thoughts, but it doesn't make them bad or silly."

Sotomayor's warning comes days after JD Vance got called out on social media for misunderstanding the role of judges in checking the executive and the legislature in the US Constitution.

"Judges aren't allowed to control the executive's legitimate power," Vance had said, without mentioning that while the executive cannot be controlled by the judiciary, the legal basis of their decisions can be checked.

On Monday, a federal judge threatened the Trump administration with contempt of court after the White House refused to release federal grant money.

In response, Trump announced that he would seek an appeal and accused the courts of being full of "corrupt" judges that "we have to look at."