Democrats have no desire to repeat the lesson they learned from the Ruth Bader Ginsburg fiasco. In September of 2019, the elderly Supreme Court Justice, who had faced numerous medical battles, shared with NPR’s Nina Totenberg her response to critics who say she should have retired during the Obama administration. “When that suggestion is made, I ask the question: Who do you think the president could nominate that could get through the Republican Senate, who you would prefer on the court than me?”
Nature had the last laugh a year later almost to the day when Ginsburg shuffled off this mortal coil. Her successor named by Donald Trump was Amy Coney Barrett.
Now Democratic activists, mindful that their majority in the Senate is razor-thin, want to seize the opportunity to replace an old-timer on the high court with fresh blood — even if they don’t come out and say it. They are thus pressuring Justice Stephen Breyer to retire, according to Politico, left-wing activists are pressuring Justice Stephen Breyer to retire.
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The article quotes Brian Fallon, co-founder and executive director of the group Demand Justice, as saying:
Justice Breyer’s service on the Court has been remarkable, and history will remember him even more fondly if he ends up playing a critical role in ensuring the appointment of the first Black woman to the Court. Timing his retirement in the coming year would guarantee that opportunity, and it would be wise to do so because the window may prove a narrow one.
Yeah, let’s pretend that their goal is to appoint a black woman and not just someone who isn’t so close to — how shall we say? — having one foot in the grave. Breyer is 82. That’s the same age Biden will be if he survives the entirety of his first term, but presumably Fallon would argue that sometimes age and the experience that comes with it are good things.
