As more liberals urge Sonia Sotomayor to step down this year to ensure that Biden can pick her successor, some Senate Democrats are voicing fears of a 7-2 conservative majority.
If we had a different process for appointing justices, her age/health wouldn’t matter as much. The problem is that if she dies during a conservative presidency, our already skewed supreme court becomes a radical supreme court, because a Republican will appoint a very conservative justice.
The United States leans left (~54% I believe), but even if the nation is a 50/50 split, a supreme court that is 6/9 far right already wildly misrepresents the people. 7+ leaves most of this country without a voice.
She’s also diabetic, a former chain-smoker, and has to travel with a medic.
Ok, and does that mean she’s not capable of fulfilling her duties?
If you consider “being alive until 2029” one of her duties, she has a good chance of not fulfilling it.
And potentially needing to stick around until 2033 even…
Not at the moment but it does mean she might suddenly die during the next presidential term.
If we had a different process for appointing justices, her age/health wouldn’t matter as much. The problem is that if she dies during a conservative presidency, our already skewed supreme court becomes a radical supreme court, because a Republican will appoint a very conservative justice.
The United States leans left (~54% I believe), but even if the nation is a 50/50 split, a supreme court that is 6/9 far right already wildly misrepresents the people. 7+ leaves most of this country without a voice.