Why are Democrats so bad at managing their Supreme Court justices?
In 2017, we watched as Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee blocked Barack Obama's 2016 lame duck nomination of Merrick Garland. Their reasoning: it came too close to a presidential election. Hamstrung, the Obama camp waited, confident that Donald Trump would lose.
Sound familiar?
Fast forward to the present day, and procrastinating Dems are buzzing like a damaged beehive over the health of New York's own, Sonia Sotomayor, 70. The justice, born in the Bronx, has Type-1 diabetes. The average lifespan of sufferers of the disease is 68.
One idea on the table: have Sotomayor retire, and quickly seat a new justice. Sounds tempting, if a bit sneaky. But what if the Senate--with nothing-to-lose rogue senators like retiring Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema--decides not to cooperate? If they fail, is it even feasible for Sotomayor to try to reclaim her seat?
In his first term, Trump successfully placed three justices on the nation's highest court, cementing a substantive element of his legacy. Another piece of history from that era: each nomination brought out the ugliest facets of major Democratic politicians who opposed Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.
One of the nastiest: Kamala Harris.
A highly possible strategy of the coming Trump administration, regardless of the Sotomayor situation: replacing the aging conservative justices. Samuel Alito, 74, and Clarence Thomas, 76, are still highly capable. They are also smart enough to understand that to preserve their own legacy, it is wiser to exit intact instead of "pulling an RBG", that is, staying until your health determines your replacement, as did the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
If the pair stayed on the court another two years, they would be well into what most consider the golden years of the retirement zone. And neither has had an easy career, often bashed and harassed by the liberal media.
If Trump could seat another two--or even three--justices, his legacy would grow from historic to legendary, positively monumental in the reshaping of the American judiciary. This story is one to watch over the next four years.
Speaking of Kamala, there is some buzz going around liberal circles that perhaps she could be nominated for Sotomayor's seat, if vacated. After all, Merrick Garland got a consolation prize in his appointment to US Attorney General! Al Gore became the Lifetime Climate Czar after "losing" to George W. Bush!, or so goes the reasoning of the left.
Who says the left doesn't understand comedy?
Bakari Sellers: Kamala Harris has the “legal pedigree” to become a Supreme Court justice before Biden leaves office.
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) November 8, 2024
Omg…pic.twitter.com/ZrUep3afQi
