Democrats concerned about Supreme Court vacancy following Justice Ginsburg’s passing

According to a report by NBC News, although Democrat senators are not officially calling for liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to step down, they are expressing concerns about history repeating itself after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s decision not to retire in 2014 resulted in a conservative shift in the court.

At the time, Ginsburg, who was then 81 and a cancer survivor, could have retired and been replaced by a Democrat appointee when President Barack Obama was in office and his party controlled 55 Senate seats. However, she did not retire and passed away in September 2020.

This allowed then-President Donald Trump to appoint Justice Amy Coney Barrett, giving the court a 6-3 conservative majority, leading to Barrett later overturning the Roe v. Wade ruling.

Given these events, some on the left are urging Justice Sotomayor, who is 69 and a lifelong diabetic, to retire while President Joe Biden is in office and Democrats have control of the Senate.

While no Democrat senators on the Judiciary Committee are publicly calling for Sotomayor to retire, there are concerns about a potential 7-2 conservative majority on the court.

Senator Richard Blumenthal stated, “We should learn a lesson. And it’s not like there’s any mystery here about what the lesson should be.” He emphasized the importance of ensuring diversity on the court and the need to consider the national interest.

Similarly, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse expressed concerns about a further conservative shift in the court and highlighted the need for justices to consider the scope of their rulings.

Various op-eds, law professors, and legal advocacy groups have also weighed in on the issue, emphasizing the importance of considering the country’s best interests in making decisions about retirement from the Supreme Court.