As the Throughline 'cast noted recently, the Supreme Court has never been so out of tune with America as it is today. For better or worse, the Court has always generally reflected the voting public. Until the last few years. I wonder in an Occam's Razor kind of way if that's because, in the past, justices would simply die and now they don't. I have zero data to back up my theory but if life expectancy is 65, a Supreme Court Justice naturally isn't going to have the same length of tenure that they would if life expectancy is 85. And so today we have a court that is completely out of touch with the public at large.
I think it's what happens if you appoint zealots Our courts behave mostly like Throughline says. Parliament tends to be more responsive to the times, because it is elected more often. But the courts elsewhere do generally move with the times, on a lagging basis. To my mind a justice like Clarence is just insane. He's just on the take. That is a wild outlier.
The trias politica works when each power is filled without influence from the other powers. In the USA it seems like that isnot the case/security breaks are missing. The Netherlands atm are working on a adaptation of the Constitution to limit the political influencing of appointments of members of our supreme court, the "Hoge Raad".
I swear I saw something about Dems wanting Sotomayor to retire. I'll have to look for it Here it is. Guess there are health concerns & progressives don't want an RBG repeat https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.businessinsider.com/sonia-sotomayor-retirement-supreme-court-progressives-health-ginsburg-2024-4?amp
This is silly. The only difference her retiring will make is democracy will continue losing 6-3 vs losing 7-2.
It’s not silly because Democrats can’t get the 5th seat before they get the 4th seat, and they can’t get a 4th seat if they lose the 3rd seat.
I give Ginsburg a pass for not retiring early in Obama’s tenure. Sotomayor should retire this summer.
Haven't you heard? You can't replace a SCJ in the final year of a presidency. The people must have their voices heard...then you replace. God may Turtle rot one day.
Sotomayour is 69, chances is that she'll live another 15 years at least and be in decent health for a while. IMHO, her retiring does not change the balance, even if Trump wins, because she could outlive the Trump presidency and several of the conservative judges. Off course, there's no guarantee of anything, but I don't find her seat to be a pressing issue at the moment.
I'm more interested in him suffering before he dies. I wonder if he has a neighbor like the other KY senator?
Sotomayor currently has health issues. I doubt she'll live 15 more years, but if she does, it won't be at the level to be on SCOTUS. I'd like her to stay, but she really should step down for the sake of longevity of somebody much younger. Edit - Cynically, though, if she does step down, Biden will nominate McAfee (the GA judge) who is a conservative.