Justice Sonia Sotomayor has rejected demands to step down and allow Democrats to try and appoint a replacement before Trump takes office in January.
According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Sotomayor “has no plans to retire from the Supreme Court,” effectively ending plans to replace her.
“This is no time to lose her important voice on the court,” a person close to Sotomayor was quoted as saying. “She just turned 70 and takes better care of herself than anyone I know.”
Earlier this week, Politico reported that Democratic leaders were “agonizing” over whether to try and force Sotomayor out of the door before Trump takes back the White House.
The 70-year-old justice is known to suffer from diabetes and other health issues, creating the possibility that her seat may become open during his presidency.
The report explains:
For Democrats, this is a hair-on-fire moment. And though the discourse in the media is presently dominated by recriminations about how this all happened, another arguably more urgent conversation is blowing up largely outside of public view: whether to push for 70-year-old Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to step down while Dems still have the power to approve her replacement.
This isn’t simply some flight of fancy happening among progressive activists online. It’s a conversation members of the Senate are actively engaged in.
Hellbound and Down 