Liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is under pressure from fellow liberals to retire as fears grow that she will enable a Republican president to appoint a conservative successor.
CNN commentator Josh Barrow was the latest to demand the 69-year-old’s resignation lest she follow in the footsteps of liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died while serving in 2020 at the age of 87.
That death allowed then-President Donald Trump to strengthen the court’s conservative majority with the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett, and some liberals are determined it won’t happen again.
“I’m not saying that I think Judge Sotomayor is on the brink of death,” Barrow admitted to his fellow panelists on CNN This Morning.
‘But I think it is important, given it is a lifelong appointment, to take a long-term view of this.
Sonia Sotomayer, 69, is one of only three liberal justices currently serving on the Supreme Court
Liberal commentator Josh Barrow (left) added his voice to the growing calls on the left for her retirement on CNN This Morning
It comes after Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death in 2020 while he was still serving at age 87, allowing then-President Donald Trump to strengthen the court’s conservative majority
“It appears that it is strategically the right time for her to step down in favor of someone younger, if she is deeply concerned about the political balance on the field.”
The sitting president is constitutionally entitled to appoint justices to the Supreme Court, subject to Senate approval, and Trump appointed three during his four years in office.
Liberal campaigners mobilized against Judge Stephen Breyer, who retired in 2022 at age 83, allowing President Biden to appoint Ketanji Brown Jackson to the bench.
The court’s 6-3 conservative majority has issued a series of landmark rulings, including overturning Roe V Wade and banning affirmative action in public institutions.
And pressure is growing on Sotomayor after she made somber comments about her role in a speech to students at the University of California Law School this week.
“I live in frustration,” she admitted, “and every loss really traumatizes me in my stomach and in my heart.
“Things are bigger. They are more demanding. The number of amici is greater and you know that our emergency calendar is so much more active.
‘Being almost 70 years old, I didn’t expect this.
‘I’m tired.’
Judge Sotomayor (left) is only the fourth oldest member of the Supreme Court
But calls for her retirement grew after she expressed her frustration with law students in California
“I think it’s a little surprising, given what Justice Sotomayor describes there about the stakes of what’s happening at the Supreme Court, that she hasn’t retired,” Barrow said.
“It is entirely possible that the Democrats will lose control of the Senate in the next election, and who knows how long it will be before there is another opportunity for a Democratic president to make a new appointment to the seat in which she sits.’
The Bronx-born judge was the first Latino to serve on the bench when she was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2009.
She suffers from lifelong type 1 diabetes and her father died at the age of 43, but her mother lived to an impressive 94.
Supreme Court justices are on average over 80 when they retire, but some on the left are even taking aim at Sotomayor’s fellow liberal Justice Elena Kagan, who is only 63.
“Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan are important. But they are important because of the values they defend,” liberal lawyer and podcast host Peter Shamshiri wrote last year.
“If they want to see those values protected, they can’t risk their seats falling into Republican hands.”
Justice Sotomayor paid tribute to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg during a private ceremony at the Supreme Court following her death in 2020
“If Sotomayor and Kagan don’t retire within the next two years, they could condemn the entire country to live under a 7-2 or even 8-1 court controlled by increasingly radical Republican Party appointees.” , legal journalist Ian Millhiser wrote in Vox. .
But despite her complaints, Judge Sotomayor seemed reluctant to throw in the towel.
“It’s still an all-consuming job and I understand the impact the court has on people and on the country, and sometimes on the world. And so it’s what keeps me going.
“You can’t put your hands up and walk away. And that is not a choice. That’s an abdication. That’s giving up.’