One could say the same right now for Sotomayor and Kagan in their mid to late 60s. If Biden put in 2 40-year-olds right now there wouldn't be much chance of them being replaced during the next few administrations.
It's Democratic political malpractice.
Almost as bad as forcing a deeply unpopular presidential candidate because of a lifetime of political favors and all the corrupt money in the world. (Or the Blue 'Murican half, at least)
you’re right; congress was held by the dems, but the courts weren’t.
which should have increased her sense of urgency to ensure her vacant seat was filled by a dem president.
Agreed.
But to understand her, we should remember that she adamantly insisted that the court was not partisan, so she thought it didn't matter at all whether her successor was appointed by a Democrat or a Republican.
She was upset about the Democrats who voted against confirming Roberts in 2005.
bullshit.
she was racist and wanted her replacement to be appointed by a white lady instead of a black man, and damn the consequences to the rest of us.
The most harmful thing she did wasn't her refusal to resign. It was all the years she worked hard to shut down opposition to the court's right-wing partisanship by insisting over and over that the court was completely apolitical.
People are in fact already saying that about Sotomayor at least. My gut feel hates it because she's great and it doesn't feel like she's been around *that* long but she's 70 and the electoral/actuarial math argument is pretty strong.
I don't actually endorse their retirement. I was just pointing out where it can lead to ask lifetime appointees to quit earlier than they would otherwise choose to do so themselves
