Prior to the 2020 presidential election, longtime Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away at 87 years old. Former President Donald Trump and the rest of the Republican-led Senate quickly confirmed Justice Amy Coney Barrett, giving conservatives a six-three advantage on the Supreme Court.
Almost two years ago, that same Supreme Court, with the same majority, ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The ruling affirmed that there was no constitutional right to an abortion, ending the 54-year-old protections granted to women in Roe v. Wade. In the aforementioned Dobbs decision, just five justices signed on to the majority opinion. Had a like-minded liberal taken Ginsburg’s seat, the constitution might still protect the right to receive an abortion.
To ensure that the Supreme Court does not become more conservative and to prevent future negative decisions like Dobbs, associate justice Sonia Sotomayor should retire as soon as possible. This way, President Joe Biden could appoint another liberal justice before the presidential election in November.
Supreme Court justices have no term limits. Combined with the potential of a Republican president taking office next January, it is important to move with urgency. This means that Democrats should act now. If Sotomayor retires, they can nominate a new judge rather than grapple with a Republican nominee. We could avoid the circumstances that led to Amy Coney Barrett’s appointment, along with the results, like the Dobbs case, that came with it.
Sonia Sotomayor is 69 and has been on the Supreme Court for 15 years. The average length of a justice’s tenure is 16 years, so Sotomayor retiring is not an outlandish notion. Furthermore, Sotomayor started traveling with a medic. I do not know Sotomayor’s overall health outlook, and while she appears to be in a much better state than her former colleague Ruth Bader Ginsburg, this does not matter. A Supreme Court Justice’s position comes with an immense amount of power and responsibility. Ginsburg opted not to retire and as a result, her replacement joined a majority decision that stripped the right to an abortion. While Ginsburg served long and nobly on the Supreme Court, many people consider her service tainted because she did not retire earlier. When former President Barack Obama was in office, there was a Democratic advantage in the Senate, and Ginsburg could have retired and allowed a liberal judge to be nominated in her spot. The same is now true of Sotomayor.
Democrats acting during an election year would likely draw the ire of Republicans, as it did in 2016 when they refused to vote on Merrick Garland’s appointment to the Supreme Court. But just four years later, Republicans confirmed Justice Amy Coney Barrett much closer to an election than in 2016, breaking the rules they worked so hard to uphold.
If Republicans won’t play by them, then neither should Democrats. Not replacing a Justice when there is a Democratic majority in the Senate is asking for trouble that can easily be avoided. As such, Democrats should disregard any precedent that Republicans have tried to establish about nominating Supreme Court Justices, and replace Sotomayor as quickly as possible.
People will oppose this strategy for a number of different reasons. Asserting that a woman from a historically underrepresented ethnic group should retire from a powerful position could seem like it has biased undertones. However, this strategy does not have biased roots. If Republicans had not bastardized the process for appointing a Supreme Court Justice, then Sotomayor would have no reason to retire.
Additionally, people will oppose this strategy since it “politicizes” the Supreme Court, which is supposed to be a non-partisan body. But, the Supreme Court is already politicized. Along with Dobbs, it ruled in favor of allowing increased outside money in our elections, primarily benefiting Republicans. The case that allowed same-sex couples to marry may not have been decided the same way had the Court been as conservative then as it is now.
To prevent an overwhelmingly conservative Supreme Court, and thus future rulings like Dobbs, it is crucial for Justice Sonia Sotomayor to retire as soon as possible, allowing President Biden to appoint another liberal justice. With the possibility of a Republican presidency next year, acting now ensures that the Supreme Court does not shift further to the right. This strategy, though contentious, is necessary given the recent politicization of the Supreme Court. By taking proactive measures, Democrats can safeguard essential rights and maintain a semblance of ideological balance in the nation’s highest court.
Gabe Efros is an Opinion Columnist who writes about the American political climate, on and off campus. He can be reached at gefros@umich.edu.
The post Sonia Sotomayor, it’s time to retire appeared first on The Michigan Daily.
Leave a Reply