Justice Sonia Sotomayor has rejected demands to step down and allow Democrats to try and appoint a replacement before Trump takes office in January.
According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Sotomayor “has no plans to retire from the Supreme Court,” effectively ending plans to replace her.
“This is no time to lose her important voice on the court,” a person close to Sotomayor was quoted as saying. “She just turned 70 and takes better care of herself than anyone I know.”
Earlier this week, Politico reported that Democratic leaders were “agonizing” over whether to try and force Sotomayor out of the door before Trump takes back the White House.
The 70-year-old justice is known to suffer from diabetes and other health issues, creating the possibility that her seat may become open during his presidency.
The report explains:
For Democrats, this is a hair-on-fire moment. And though the discourse in the media is presently dominated by recriminations about how this all happened, another arguably more urgent conversation is blowing up largely outside of public view: whether to push for 70-year-old Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to step down while Dems still have the power to approve her replacement.
This isn’t simply some flight of fancy happening among progressive activists online. It’s a conversation members of the Senate are actively engaged in.
The report added that Democratic leaders had already identified D.C. Circuit Judge J. Michelle Childs, who was previously on Joe Biden’s SCOTUS short list, as her replacement.
This is not happening. No way, no how. The Senate will not confirm any last-minute Dem Supreme Court nominee between now and January. The next SCOTUS justice will be nominated by Donald J. Trump https://t.co/pHjsKaVCb3
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) November 8, 2024
However, those plans now appear to be in tatters.
Appointed by President Obama in 2009 from the United States Court of Appeals, Sotomayor is the defacto leader of the the Supreme Court’s liberal minority.
As one of three liberals on a court now controlled by conservatives, Sotomayor frequently issues dissenting views, particularly on issues such as abortion and election integrity.
There is also growing speculation that Trump or other Republican leaders may successfully convince Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito to retire before the 2026 midterms, when the GOP risks losing its Senate majority.
The two conservative justices, who are both in their 70's, would open up spaces for younger replacements that could serve on the court for decades to come.
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