Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is rejecting Democrats’ calls to retire as soon as possible so President Biden can nominate a replacement before he leaves office in January.
The thinking on the left is that her replacement could be confirmed by the Democrat-run Senate during the lame-duck session before Republicans take control of the chamber and President-elect Donald Trump moves into the White House.
Justice Sotomayor, 70, is the oldest of the three Democratic-appointed justices and may have to be replaced during Mr. Trump’s four-year term.
“She’s in great health, and the court needs her now more than ever,” a person close to Justice Sotomayor told CNN.
Another person told The Wall Street Journal that Justice Sotomayor “takes better care of herself than anyone I know.”
“This is no time to lose her important voice on the court,” that person said.
An unnamed Democratic senator confirmed to Politico last week that there has been talk about a potential retirement and replacement for Justice Sotomayor.
Democrats control the White House and the Senate until early January, when a new Congress takes over, which puts the timeline for a potential retirement and replacement in a tight window.
Justice Sotomayor was appointed by President Obama in 2009. She’s been on the court for 15 years. She is the most senior Democratic appointee on the high court, followed by Justice Elena Kagan, who was also nominated by Mr. Obama, and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who was nominated by Mr. Biden in 2022.
Democrats are still sour about the decision of liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg not to retire during a Democratic administration. She died in 2020, enabling Mr. Trump to appoint a justice — conservative Amy Coney Barrett — to a seat Ginsburg held for nearly three decades.
Some Democrats want to avoid a repeat of that result.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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