Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has no plans to retire, according to those close to her, even though several Democrats have called for her to retire.
Liberal pundits have called on the 70-year-old jurist to resign and allow President Joe Biden to replace her with a younger liberal before Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.
Their strategy assumes that Sotomayor might not survive Trump’s second term, allowing him to select a fourth justice for the Supreme Court. but ohNo one close to Sotomayor told her The Wall Street Journal that justice has no plans to resign.
‘Now is not the time to lose your important voice on the court. “He just turned 70 and takes better care of himself than anyone I know,” the source said.
The 70-year-old, seen here in February, is being asked to resign to allow President Joe Biden to replace her with a younger liberal, before Donald Trump takes office.
Liberals have flocked to Sotomayor to step aside and have even suggested Kamala Harris as her successor.
Fearing history repeating itself, liberals have called on him to step aside and even suggested Kamala Harris as his successor.
David Dayen, executive editor of the liberal American Prospect magazine, said the day after the election: “This would probably be a good day for Sotomayor to retire.”
MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan also republished an op-ed he wrote in April suggesting it was Sotomayor’s time.
At that point he said: ‘Why take the risk? “You have a Democratic president and a Democratic Senate, and you have a judge who is about to turn 70.”
Hasan reshared his article on social media on Wednesday. “I think this piece of mine has aged (sadly!) quite well,” he wrote.
Miranda Yaver, a political scientist at the University of Pittsburgh, said: “Sotomayor should retire tomorrow and let the outgoing Senate confirm her replacement.”
CNN analyst Bakari Sellers even floated the idea of repackaging Sotomayor with Vice President Kamala Harris after her loss to Trump.
Electing a sitting vice president to the Supreme Court would be an event without historical precedent. President Biden is seen here Sunday in Delaware.
“There is an incredible vice president who has the legal pedigree to serve on a Supreme Court,” he said on CNN Friday morning. “And let the Republicans go crazy, monkey, I even mention that option.”
Host John Berman reacted to the idea with amazement and wondered if it was possible.
‘Not only am I floating it, but I want to shake it all up. “I want people’s heads to explode this morning,” Sellers said.
Typically, presidents choose respected judicial minds to the Supreme Court, not politicians.
Electing a sitting vice president to the Supreme Court would be an event without historical precedent.
Members of the Supreme Court sit for a group portrait in Washington, Oct. 7, 2022. Sotomayor is seen in the bottom row at far left.
The theory that Harris will end up on the Supreme Court had also previously been floated by a former Trump aide in July.
Richard Grenell, who served as Director of National Intelligence under Trump, posted on X predicting an “open convention fight for president.”
The 57-year-old said: “If (Harris) is not enough, Justice Sotomayor will be forced to resign to make way for Kamala and then an open convention for the fight for the presidency.”
In the unlikely event that Sotomayor decides to resign, she would have to be quick, as there are only a few weeks left in Congress before the Christmas break.
I would see his death follow in the footsteps of liberal Ruth Bade Ginsburg, who died while in service at the age of 87 in 2020.
President-elect Donald Trump greets Sotomayor after addressing a joint session of the US Congress in 2017
Like Sotomayor, she also resisted calls from Democrats to step aside and allow President Obama and Democrats to appoint someone younger.
Ginsburg’s death allowed then-President Trump to consolidate a six-to-three conservative majority with the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett.
If Sotomayor dies during Trump’s second term, it would allow him an unprecedented fourth appointment to the Supreme Court in his second term.
Other justices, including Clarence Thomas, 76, and Sam Alito, 74, could also retire during Trump’s second term, allowing him to put an even more permanent stamp on the makeup of the Supreme Court.