Why oh why is the Twitter universe reverberating with speculation regarding the alleged imminent retirement of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg? Are conservatives suffering a serious case of wishful thinking, or are they finally on to something?
These are legitimate questions, even if the ailing Ginsburg’s only plan to give up her lifetime position to the high court is when she is carried out in a pine box. Twitter is rife with rumor and buzzing with RBG activity – and for good reason.
In the Center Ring
Former Deputy Assistant to the President Sebastian Gorka is out in front of the rumor-mill, standing in the center ring of this speculation circus with the message that Ginsburg’s a goner. His unsubstantiated claims are that she’s “preparing to step down from the Supreme Court.” Then there is Fox News. An article written by Lukas Mikelionis this week undertakes the heavy lift of trying to divine Ginsburg’s decision based on past comments. [perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=”24″]…it’s likely a political bloodbath will ensue. [/perfectpullquote]
He quotes RBG opining that she plans to keep on trucking at the Supreme Court “as long as I can do the job full steam …” Unfortunately, these past dictums sound a lot like the naïve teenager claiming they would be happy to have a “do not resuscitate” sign on their door should they become old and infirm. It sounds noble at the time but when one finally reaches that point in life, their survival instinct takes over, and their desires morph into something like, “Hold on now – don’t pull that plug.”
Meanwhile, in the ring on the left, we have the darling of the political progressives, Rachel Maddow. Ms. Maddow confessed that Justice Ginsburg’s health has been worrying to her, but she was able to reclaim her zen once she spoke to a medical expert. The chair of thoracic surgery at Mt. Sinai Hospital, Dr. Raja Flores, informed Maddow’s audience that Ginsburg’s absence from the Supreme Court is “completely routine.” One could almost hear Maddow begin to exhale a much-needed sigh of relief.
Déjà vu
Back in November tweets began to pop up like this:
Although it’s unclear what his exact words were, this sounds a lot like Mark Twain, who was widely reported to have said, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” Still, RGB is the odds-on favorite to call it a day at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Casino.org
, touted as “the world’s online gaming authority,” reports that “PredictIt, where bettors can buy and sell shares of political outcomes” shows that those who play the odds see Ginsburg as ready to exit the circus. Her “shares [are] currently going for 81 cents” and rising rapidly – more than three times the next share price, which, at the time of this writing, is 20 cents for Clarence Thomas.
As to who will be the president’s nominee to replace Ginsburg, PredictIt has Amy Coney Barrett leading the pack by 38 cents. As to whether a woman will replace Ginsburg, the odds are 65 cents in favor. Whatever the odds, should President Trump get a third bite of the Supreme Court apple, it’s likely a political bloodbath will ensue. And it could prove to make the Brett Kavanaugh nomination look like child’s play as the left is likely to throw it down lock, stock, and barrel to stop the U.S. Supreme Court from becoming a conservative, originalist mouthpiece for generations to come.
While it’s never fun to speculate upon someone’s professional or literal demise, Justice Ginsburg is at a crossroads: Will she bow out with grace and a modicum of dignity or will she continue to hang on with every fiber of her progressive being? Either way, it doesn’t seem prudent to believe the soothsayers on Twitter or MSNBC. Perhaps this is one time when the odds in Vegas are the best place to find the answer as to whether the three-ring political circus is about to become the greatest show on earth.
