(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A retired Supreme Court justice weighed in on the calls, primarily from the far left, for Justice Sonia Sotomayor to step down to pave the way for a new appointment.
Former Justice Stephen Breyer suggested that Sotomayor should disregard the criticism and reach her decision independently.
“I think anyone can say what they want,” Breyer said in an interview with Shannon Bream on Fox News Sunday. “I was 83 years old, I think, when I retired but Justice Sotomayor is a spring chicken.”
Breyer made these remarks during a special interview with Bream, where they discussed his latest book, Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism.
“You made your own choice and walked away,” Bream told Breyer, who retired in 2022, before posing the question about his thoughts on the pressure campaign for justices to retire.
“What do you make of these public calls whether they come from academia or op-ed pages, telling any particular justice, ‘We think now is a good time go,’” Bream asked of the retired justice.
Breyer clarified the difference in age between himself and Sotomayor. “She is a spring chicken and I’m an old rooster,” he said. “There we are. People can say what they want. The decision about what to do is up to the judge.”
To this, Bream replied, “It’s a lifetime appointment.”
Breyer concurred but interjected, saying, “I mean, you can stay there if you were 150 years old, if you want. In my mind… there did come a time 83, 84, 85—I don’t know how many eighties you want in there but it’s time for another person.”
Former President Barack Obama appointed Sotomayor to the Supreme Court in 2009. While Sotomayor is only 69 years old, she is the oldest liberal member of the court.
Some leftists are suggesting that Sotomayor retire now to allow President Joe Biden to appoint a younger liberal who may serve on the court longer than her.
At the center of their worries is the possibility that Democrats could lose the Senate majority and, even worse, the White House after the 2024 presidential election.
Such a scenario could bolster the conservative majority in the Supreme Court for decades.
There are currently six conservative judges on the court, three of whom were appointed by former President Donald Trump in a single term. Trump is vying for a second term, with several polls showing him in the lead.
