Posted on 06/10/2019 2:49:07 AM PDT by Kaslin
It just takes a cursory look at the ages of current Supreme Court justice to notice that Democrats have a distinct disadvantage, for now. That’s because its two oldest justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg at 86 and Stephen Breyer at 80, are both long past the time when normal working folks typically trade in their work boots for fedoras and beach sandals.
But SCOTUS is no ordinary job, and these are not ordinary times. Both Ginsburg and Breyer know the politics behind any potential retirement plans, and both are doubtless planning to cling to their jobs like a pair of good dentures until it’s no longer humanly possible, or a Democrat is elected president, whichever comes first.
After Ginsburg and Breyer the age count drops a decade, and next up is conservative Clarence Thomas at 70, and after him another Republican appointee, 69-year-old Samuel Alito. With Roberts (Republican) and Sontomayor (Democrat) both virtual spring chickens at 64, barring something unforeseen, any thoughts of the court’s immediate future likey rests on its four oldest justices.
Should President Donald Trump get another SCOTUS pick, the conventional wisdom says it’ll likely be to replace Ginsburg, whose health problems of late have had Democrats pledging to donate any organ necessary to keep her alive and ticking. However, after a brief health scare, the Nortorious RBG is back on the bench, seemingly as strong as ever. While I certainly wish Justice Ginsburg a long and happy life, I also wish she would just retire already. But she’s a tough old bird, that one, with a workout routine that would have most of us eating her dust. Most of all, she’s an idealogue with a mission to NOT allow conservatives to gain a 6th justice, and thus an overwhelming majority even should the squirrely-of-late Roberts decide to pull a belated “David Souter” on America. It’s a dedication and a thought process I actually admire, and hope conservative justices share.
For his part, Thomas had conservatives on edge last week when he had to quash his own retirement rumors. "I have no idea where this stuff comes from," he said in response. "One of the things you have to get used to in this business ... is that people can say things about you and for you that have nothing to do with you."
Fox News reported that the court’s only black justice - who would set an impressive court record as the longest serving ever in 2028 (take that, libs) - has no plans to retire “even in 20 or 30 years.”
If true, that’s great. But where did the rumors come from? As a conservative, I’d be lying if I said that even rumors of Thomas’ retirement make me more than a little nervous. Consider where we were in mid-2016, just before Donald Trump won his improbable victory: Anthony Kennedy was the liberal-leaning “middle” vote, but originalist stalwart Antonin Scalia had just died unexpectedly, leaving only three conservatives on the court (yes, I’m generously calling Roberts a “conservative”). Leftists were just one election away from having a 5-4 majority, and if Kennedy had retired, a 6-3 super-majority. In an age where the courts unconstitutionally but nevertheless de facto rule, where some district judge in Arizona can legislate virtually anything from the bench, America was just a few thousand rust-belt votes away from essentially being over.
But thankfully - and I believe Providentially - despite the liberal media, the loony left and the hand-wringing squishy “Never Trump” faux-conservatives, Trump did win, and we were rescued from the brink. Has everything gone smoothly? Of course not. Sure, the borders are still a sieve, but if you think a Democratic president wouldn’t have thrown them wide-open, I’ve got an Arizona fence section signed by Hillary to sell you. No, not everything has gone as we would have liked, but even the squishys are on board with the two SCOTUS seats and Trump’s record-setting pace of lower court confirmations. It’s unprecedented, and it’s something that will make the next Democrat presidential victory slightly more bearable. After all, conservative know how to challenge executive actions through the courts too.
So yeah, we’re exponentially better off now than we would have been had Hillary won, even if Trump loses in 2020. Nevertheless, getting complacent would be a yuge mistake. A year and a half from now, there’s a 50-50 chance we could be dealing with just that - a Democratic presidential victory. Should Ginsburg and Breyer both retire at that point, age will be replaced with youth and the clock will again be on the left’s side. Sure, we’d presumably still have five justices, but should one of those decide to retire or be forced by a medical setback to step down, we’ll be right where Democrats find themselves now.
If I could wave a magic wand and get a message to Justice Thomas, I would say this:
You’ve had a remarkable run and we’re forever in your debt. If you’ve got 20 or 30 more years in you, more power to you. However, if there is anything at all to those rumors, and you’re even thinking about retirement, please consider doing it in the next year, when you can be safely replaced by a younger conservative justice.
Justice Thomas refuted those rumors of retirement already.
So no USSC talk as the term soon comes to a close.
All this assumes there will someday be a Democrat President of the United States.
If a communist is ever elected, it won’t matter the make up of the court... all will be purged and people will start to disappear... their ends, justifies their means... and in their twisted little minds, trump has already set the precedent as president.
The most consistent feature of people in powerful jobs is they tend not to give them up even when they can’t do them any longer. I think this is because they identify as the job rather than as a human being. They believe that no one can do the job as well as they can. Also, they believe, rightly I think, that if they give up the job they will die; as the job is their entire identity. Strom Thurmond mostly slept through Senate proceedings, but refused to give up the job. Hilary Clinton, whose job it was to become president, has yet to give up the ambition even though it has become ridiculous. It is who she is; in this case it’s an imaginary job she won’t give up.
A fellow employee once said to me, “wouldn’t it be wonderful if we all lived forever?” I said, “That means once you had a bad boss you would have him forever.” The German physicist Max Planck said that science advances one funeral at a time.
Ridiculous. Thomas is only 70 years old, which is young in the realm of the USSC.
He is also our best justice by far and Trump unfortunately has not been finding and naming justices in his model. So far, Trump’s Justices have been a bit, well, squishy, shall we say.
If a supposedly “friendly” justice should step down, that should of course be Roberts, who is only six years younger than Thomas—but that will never happen.
McConnell already said there’s no problem with a year-four appointment.
Unfortunately you are right. I wish Thomas and Alito would pack it in this summer. Replace with 40-year old conservatives. Our luck would be that we lose the presidency and senate and both drop dead in 2022 or something. This is a crucial time and staying in a seat to set some kind of record is absurd.
Lol. We’d be big time fools to believe such nonsense.
Even worse if we allow it. We have been pretty foolish to like things get this far out of hand.
Speak for yourself, soiboi cuck traitor.
I actually would like Thomas to retire. I love him but it would give Trump the chance to pick a younger conservative judge. Let’s play the long game.
Conservative judges don’t just “drop dead”
They get assassinated like Scalia was.
I have one word for Ruth Buzzy. DIE!
If I were Ginsburg or Breyer, I would be more concerned about my immortal soul than in continuing to abridge people’s God given rights granting “rights” that are Satanic in origin.
Time is not on Ruthie’s side. Her chances at living 6 more years are poor.
I don’t think we have a SCOTUS majority. Kavanaugh has showin signs of being “wet” as the British call it and Roberts is not reliable at all. Kavanaugh was stung by the Democrat campaign to prevent his accession and is trying to get back into the good graces of the Elite. Roberts bows to coercion and blows away with the wind. We have three Conservative justices and two part time conservatives whose conservative parts will progressively give way to their social justice parts.
I expect a Social Democrat to be President in 2021. The SocialDemocrats own the big cities and there is at least one big SocDem city in almost every state. The cities will produce however many SD votes are necessary to overcome any Republican majorities in their states. The fraud in selected cities was semi open in 16 and 18 and received no penalty and only squeaks of complaint. All the fraudulent vote counts were accepted meekly by the Republicans. It will be therefore total in 2020.
John Paul Stevens and Oliver Wendell Holmes both served till 90. Stevens is still going strong at 99. Ginsburg could well last past a second Trump term.
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