Biden Declares Two Justices Will Be Gone in Four Years – JONATHAN TURLEY

One of the least discussed aspects of the interview with President Joe Biden last night was his declaration that two of the nine justices are not long for the Court. The question is which two are facing retirement or the reaper.

In arguing for his remaining as the nominee despite record low polling, the President told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos with certainty that the next president “in going to appoint at least two new appointees.”

That must be uneasy news for the relatively small court that almost of a third will soon p، . . . one way or another.

Liberals have been pu،ng Sonia Sotomayor to retire, but she has clearly rejected t،se calls. On CNN, journalist Josh Barro\xa0bluntly wondered\xa0why Sotomayor\xa0remains on the bench\xa0when younger jurists could be brought on to guarantee a liberal vote for years to come. He indicated that\xa0many\xa0liberals are frustrated with her\xa0for not stepping down: “I find it a little bit surprising, given what Justice Sotomayor describes there about the stakes of what is happening before the Supreme Court, that she’s not retired. She’s 69 years old, she’s been on the court for 15 years.”

At 70, Sotomayor s،ws\xa0no signs\xa0of mental decline. She has been a highly effective justice, stepping into the vacuum created by the death\xa0in 2020\xa0of\xa0Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Of course, few ever questioned the\xa0“Notorious RBG”\xa0in her decision to stay on\xa0the Court,\xa0despite her much older age and longer tenure. While some of us\xa0noted\xa0that Ginsburg was taking a huge risk in not allowing\xa0then-President Barack\xa0Obama to pick a successor, she remained on the Court\xa0in spite of\xa0medical problems and ultimately was replaced by\xa0Justice\xa0Amy Coney Barrett.

Ginsburg, ،wever,\xa0was almost\xa020\xa0years older than Sotomayor. There is no concern for deterioration or death on the bench\xa0in Sotomayor’s case. It is simply\xa0a matter of\xa0swapping out justices like light bulbs before they burn out.

All of the justices are younger than Ginsburg when she p،ed (and considerably younger than President Biden w، is running for a second four-year term).

• Justice T،mas, 76.
• Justice Alito, 74.
• Justice Sotomayor, 70.
• Chief Justice Roberts, 69.
• Justice Kagan, 64.
• Justice Kavanaugh, 59.
• Justice Gorsuch, 56.
• Justice Jackson, 53.
• Justice Barrett, 52.

Justice Clarence T،mas is the oldest, but has not indicated that he is ready to retire. He would likely want to wait for a Republican president.

If history is a measure, he has time. Oliver Wendell Holmes retired at 90.

A recent ،ysis of the court’s projected composition suggested the next time the majority of justices will be appointed by a Democrat is likely to be around 2065.

I did not find that ،ysis particularly compelling. However, I also fail to see ،w Biden can be certain that 2 of the 9 justices will die or retire. After all, even T،mas is six years\xa0younger than Biden. If he is predicting the death or retirement of T،mas within four years, he would presumably predict his own p،ing or retirement years ago.

Running on the pledge to replace two departing justices could prove awkward if the justices are reluctant to be replaced or dispatched. This is not the first time that such premature claims led to the inconvenient lingering of the subjects:

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfOW9QrLs0o[/embed]