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Senate Dems confused by panicked leftists demanding justice’s resignation: ‘This is not an RGB situation’

April 13, 2024 | | Print Article

Some Senate Democrats are reportedly pushing back against efforts on the left to oust Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

As previously reported, some congressional Democrats and “progressive” activists want Sotomayor, 69, to resign so that she doesn’t later die in office under a Republican president like former Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg did when she died in 2020 at the age of 87.

But according to The Hill, a number of other Democrats, particularly in the Senate, think this is crazy talk.

“She’s not 70,” Sen. Peter Welch said. “I might remind some of my colleagues to look around, check their birth certificate. She’s going full speed ahead. I’m not aware of significant issues, and I am aware of extraordinary competence. This is not an RGB situation.”

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durban, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, agrees.

“I don’t think there’s anything I know about her medical condition that would disqualify her from continuing,” he reportedly told reporters on Monday. “I don’t see any reason why she wouldn’t [keep serving.]”

Also in agreement are Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Chris Van Hollen.

“It makes no sense to me,” Warren said in an interview with HuffPost. “I think Justice Sotomayor is doing a terrific job, and I think she’ll be doing a terrific job for years to come.”

“I think she’s doing a great job, and I think she should stay,” Hollen added. “I’m a little baffled by [the chatter].”

All this became an issue after Sen. Richard Blumenthal told NBC News last week that Democrats “should learn a lesson” and take note of how Justice Amy Coney Barrett wound up on the court.

“I’m very respectful of Justice Sotomayor. I have great admiration for her. But I think she really has to weigh the competing factors,” he 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,” he added.

The concern is that former President Donald Trump, a Republican, will win reelection in November and then replace Sotomayor with a conservative justice if she dies while he’s in office.

“Some progressives and political commentators, including Nate Silver and Josh Barro, have argued that Sotomayor, who at 69 is the oldest of three Democratic-appointed justices, should retire to avoid a repeat of what happened with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” HuffPost explains.

“The late justice resisted calls to step down while Democrats held the Senate in 2014 under President Barack Obama, and her death in 2020 at age 87 from cancer allowed Republicans to appoint a 6-3 conservative majority on the court that repealed federal abortion rights, with more major GOP legal victories on the horizon,” according to HuffPost.

Welch for his part recognizes the risk of Sotomayor remaining in office but supports it anyway.

“The reality is, if we do get a Trump presidency, we’re going to get another outrageous Supreme Court pick, so it’s not [an unfounded concern],” he said. “But I don’t think it’s necessary in the case of Sotomayor.”

Why not? Well, for one thing, there are some serious differences between Sotomayor’s situation and that of Ginsburg.

“[W]hen Ginsburg faced calls to retire in 2014, she was 81 years old and had already gone through two bouts with cancer, including pancreatic cancer,” HuffPost notes. “Sotomayor, who will turn 70 this summer, has had no major health episodes, unlike Chief Justice John Roberts or Justice Clarence Thomas, both of whom recently were hospitalized.”

But on the other hand, Sotomayor admitted earlier this year that she’s “tired.”

“To be almost 70 years old, this isn’t what I expected,” she said. “But it is still work that is all consuming, and I understand the impact the court has on people and on the country, and sometimes the world. And so it is what keeps me going.”

“Cases are bigger. They’re more demanding. The number of amici are greater, and you know that our emergency calendar is so much more active. I’m tired. There used to be a time when we had a good chunk of the summer break. Not anymore. The emergency calendar is busy almost on a weekly basis,” she added.

Vivek Saxena
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