Democrat Senators and power players angling to replace Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor before Biden's term expired were brushed back on Sunday. While the Democrats still control the presidency and the US Senate, some, like Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), have pressured Sotomayor to retire so Joe Biden could name a younger justice to her seat. The justice, an Obama appointee, is 70 and suffers from type 1 diabetes. She won't go along with the plan, however. After a few days of stories fueled by those who want her to go, the justice shut down their plans and speculation.
Is Sotomayor aping Ginsburg's narcissism?
Progressive activists pressured Justice Stephen Breyer to leave his job when Biden was a new president, and Democrats took the Senate from Republican control. The pressure campaign included a sign-bearing truck circling the Supreme Court urging his resignation. However, they can save their money and stop trying to get Justice Sotomayor to go this time around. After headlines like "Dems agonize over Sotomayor" and "Dems at War Over Secret SCOTUS Plot to Oust Sotomayor," the Justice sent a message through the grapevine to shoo the vultures off – she is alive and well and not going anywhere.
"Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to remain at post as some call for her to step down."
That was a headline Sunday at CNN, where she made her intentions known through the ever-popular DC source - a "person close to the justice," related, noting that, "She's in great health, and the court needs her now more than ever." It's an interesting choice of words. Not "she loves her work more than ever" or "she appreciates the opportunity to serve as a justice more and more." No – she doesn't need the Court; the Court needs her! The wise Latina seems committed to being the most progressive big-government jurist on the court for the foreseeable future.
L'Palais de Justice, c'est moi
Politico's story featured a name as a trial balloon for replacement, Michelle Childs, a 58-year-old Obama appointment to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. No senator was named in the story, but Blumenthal previously pushed for Sotomayor to step down and avoid the same fate as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Ginsburg infamously refused to resign while Barack Obama was president, even though she was in her 80s and in poor health. As a result, she died in office, and Donald Trump named her successor, conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Earlier this year, Blumenthal said:
"We should learn a lesson. And it's not like there's any mystery here about what the lesson should be. The old saying — graveyards are full of indispensable people, ourselves in this body included."
Hot speculation on Supreme Court retirements wasn't confined to the left this week. Trump's sweeping victory and comfortable Republican Senate majority saw speculation over whether the two eldest conservatives might exit the court during Trump's presidency. However, Trump's lead Justice picker and legend in conservative legal circles Leonard Leo poured cold water on the speculation. He released a statement saying in part that "talking about them [Justices] like meat that has reached its expiration date is unwise, uninformed, and, frankly, just crass," and "Justices Thomas and Alito have given their lives to our country and our Constitution, and should be treated with more dignity and respect than they are getting from some pundits."
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