yarrriv: FYI of the 15 justices appointed since Kennedy, not including the current court, only one (Fortas) died before the age of 80; Scalia, at 80, was the second-youngest to die, followed by Rehnquist (81) and Goldberg (82). The remaining 11/15 lived to the age of 85, and at least four made it to 90

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my steelman reply is that the realistic best case scenario for American democracy involves a constitutional crisis in the next 8 years where SCOTUS issues an unconstitutional ruling and a Dem Pres+Congress say "no", and Dems need to make sure that the public is on their side when this happens

the realistic best case is that the two worst justices die and are replaced with significantly better justices imo

I think the actuarial tables make this unrealistic but yes, that would be better

Aren't Alito & Thomas the two oldest justices? Hasn't Thomas been in & out of the hospital the past few years? I could have sworn I read Alito had a documented heart problem.

and Roberts has seizures, so it’s not like any of these are super unlikely

Crucial that Biden wins this year and that the next Dem wins in 2028. Both these guys will be in their 80s and then we would be oh so close to a 5-4 Dem court

I mean if we get 4+ years in 28 the odds get extremely good on Roberts as well.

FYI of the 15 justices appointed since Kennedy, not including the current court, only one (Fortas) died before the age of 80; Scalia, at 80, was the second-youngest to die, followed by Rehnquist (81) and Goldberg (82). The remaining 11/15 lived to the age of 85, and at least four made it to 90

(appointed since JFK, not since Anthony Kennedy) +s are still alive Beyer: 86+ Ginsburg: 87 Souter: 85+ Kennedy: 88+ Scalia: 80 Rehnquist: 81 O'Connor: 93 JP Stevens: 99 Powell Jr: 91 Blackmun: 91 Burger: 88 Marshall: 85 Fortas: 72 Goldberg: 82 White: 85

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