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With the election of President Trump, some liberal activists have called for Justice Sonia Sotomayor to step down so Democrats can appoint someone else on the bench before Inauguration Day.
Earlier this week a CNN commentator floated the idea of Joe Biden nominating Kamala Harris to the U.S. Supreme Court before he exits office in January.
However, Sotomayor reportedly shut down that idea.
Sotomayor, the most senior liberal justice on a conservative-majority Supreme Court, made clear she has no intentions to step down.
“She’s in great health, and the court needs her now more than ever,” one individual close to the justice said, according to CNN.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor has no plans to retire, resisting liberal calls to quit ahead of Trump presidency —WSJ pic.twitter.com/NPO9JijaN0
— NewsWire (@NewsWire_US) November 10, 2024
The Wall Street Journal reports:
Sotomayor, appointed in 2009 by then President Barack Obama, is the senior member of the court’s liberal minority, which by custom makes her its leader. Outnumbered by six conservatives, including three appointed by Trump during his first term, the liberals have increasingly been reduced to dissenting opinions that argue the majority has made grave errors on matters from abortion rights to presidential power.
Sotomayor, who has written a bestselling memoir and children’s books, appeared on “Sesame Street,” and championed civics education, is among the better-known justices. In February, a Marquette Law School poll found that while many Americans were unfamiliar with the court’s membership, Sotomayor was viewed more favorably than any other justice.
“This would probably be a good day for Sotomayor to retire,” David Dayen, executive editor of the liberal American Prospect magazine, wrote the day after the election on social media. The same day, the former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan, noting the justice has had Type 1 diabetes since childhood, resurfaced his April op-ed suggesting that it was time for Sotomayor to go.
Animating the discussion of Sotomayor—and of potential retirements by conservative justices of similar age—is Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death at age 87. Ginsburg had resisted calls from liberals to step down in the early 2010s while Obama and the Democrats held appointment power. Her death in September 2020 allowed Trump to solidify the court’s conservative majority by appointing Justice Amy Coney Barrett shortly before Democrats captured both the White House and Senate.
Sonia Is Staying: Despite calls from some liberals for Justice Sotomayor, 70, to step down while Democrats can fill her seat before Inauguration Day, she has no plans to retire, people close to her said https://t.co/AMNt6eV33L via @WSJ
— @jessbravin.bsky.social (@JessBravin) November 10, 2024
Per CNN:
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday that he doesn’t think Sotomayor should step down from the court.
“I don’t think it’s sensible,” Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Senate Democrats, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
The process of moving a Supreme Court nominee takes considerable time — often several months. Even assuming there are no problems with a potential nominee, there is not likely enough time for Biden to secure a confirmation before the GOP takes control of the Senate in early January.
Sotomayor, who is 70, has been public about living with type 1 diabetes, though she has shown little sign of slowing down. She is a relentless questioner during oral arguments and has appeared in public repeatedly in recent months.