Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is livid. She heard that Democrat operatives in the West Wing were floating the idea of tossing her to the wolves. They seem to assume that, because she’s a diabetic, she’s not going to survive Donald Trump’s term of office. The Democrats want to do a fast shuffle and replace her with Kamala Harris. Forget it. The only way you’ll replace me, the liberal jurist declares, is over my dead body. Like Ginsberg.
Sotomayor not leaving
Friends and associates of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor are quietly informing the press that “she has no plans to step down.” They’re doing the talking for her because she hasn’t calmed down enough to stop screaming. Without naming any names, “some on the left” have been urging Joe Biden’s handlers to have him “try to name a successor before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.”
The obvious choice to shuffle in is Kamala Harris, they add. The suggestion probably came from Brussels, by way of Barack Obama.
It’s not going to happen, “one person close to the justice” flatly declared. “She’s in great health, and the court needs her now more than ever.” Progressives have been hinting that “Sotomayor, the most senior liberal on the conservative Supreme Court, should step down so that Biden could try to name a replacement in the short window before Trump takes office in January.”
Even if she was willing to go along with it, and she’s not, experts say there isn’t enough time. The Republican controlled Senate would instantly squash it and fill the slot with another conservative.
This isn’t an idea which suddenly popped up after Trump miraculously won the election. “Talk has simmered for months over the possibility of Sotomayor retiring so that Biden could name a successor and ensure the seat remains a reliable vote for the liberal wing.”
Talk is cheap and the suggestions went nowhere. On Sunday, November 10, Bernie Sanders went public to shoot down the idea.
It’s not sensible
Vermont Senator and card carrying socialist Bernie Sanders knows a thing or two about selling out for the good of the party. He dropped all his legal claims against Hillary Clinton when she used his share of the donations to pay her own campaign expenses. He got a comfy beach house out of the deal and they remain friends.
He fully understands that when it comes to playing that sort of let’s make a deal game with Sotomayor, she’s not going to cooperate.
Bernie went down to the NBC studio to Meet the Press. “I don’t think it’s sensible,” he opines. There’s a lot more to the process than meets the eye. Just ask Brett Kavanaugh. “The process of moving a Supreme Court nominee takes considerable time,” Bernie points out. It usually takes “several months.”
Squeezing Sotomayor in would have to be heavily greased, along a really fast track. There’s barely 12 weeks in the window of current opportunity. On top of that, government is virtually shut down between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.
“Sotomayor, who is 70, has been public about living with type 1 diabetes, though she has shown little sign of slowing down,” her backers note. Also, she’s “a relentless questioner during oral arguments and has appeared in public repeatedly in recent months.” Supreme court justices, in general, don’t retire.
Even when they need to be nudged awake during hearings. One of the great things about the appointment is that it’s for life. As long as they can sit at the bench, they hang on tight.
