Key Democratic senators are dismissing the possibility of liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor retiring before President Joe Biden leaves office in January, an idea that received heightened attention after the party’s resounding defeat in last week’s election. 

What You Need To Know

  • Key Democratic senators are dismissing the possibility of liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor retiring before President Joe Biden leaves office in January, an idea that received heightened attention after the party’s resounding defeat in last week’s election
  • The Supreme Court was already a sore spot for Democrats after Trump in his first term was able to put three new justices on the bench
  • Trump's appointments cemented a powerful conservative majority on a high court that has issued some of the most controversial decisions in recent years, including overturning Roe. v. Wade and ruling that Trump and all presidents cannot be prosecuted for acts within the constitution powers of the office 

"I don't think it's a realistic idea,” Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the Democratic chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which plays a key role in the confirmation process of potential Supreme Court justices, told reporters on Tuesday, multiple outlets reported. 

Durbin cited Congress’ to-do list, including avoiding a government shutdown and the annual defense policy bill, in the lame-duck session before power at the White House shifts from Biden to President-elect Trump in just over two months as the key hurdle. 

“Take a look at the calendar and tell me how in the world you could achieve that without setting aside the budget and the defense authorization act and all the other things that need to be done?” he added, according to multiple outlets. 

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont similarly dismissed the idea in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” over the weekend, saying that while he has heard “a little bit” of talk circulating about such a potential move, he doesn’t think it’s a “sensible approach.” 

Republicans’ victories in last week’s elections – including Trump winning the White House, the GOP securing a majority in the Senate and House Republicans nearing a majority even as the Associated Press has yet to call the lower chamber for either party – put heightened attention on the Supreme Court.

The topic was already a sore spot for Democrats after Trump in his first term was able to put three new justices on the bench. Trump's appointments cemented a powerful conservative majority on a high court that has issued some of the most controversial decisions in recent years, including overturning Roe. v. Wade and ruling that Trump and all presidents cannot be prosecuted for acts within the constitution powers of the office 

The retirement of 70-year-old Sotomayor, the most senior justice appointed by a Democratic president on the bench, in the lame-duck session would theoretically allow Biden to choose her successor and Democrats to confirm the pick before Trump takes office. That would ensure her spot on court stays in liberal-leaning hands instead of leaving the possibility Trump could appoint her successor should she leave during the next four years. 

Despite the dismissal from top Democrats in the upper chamber, the party has been burned by such a scenario before. The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s decision not to retire during former President Barack Obama’s term led to Trump getting the chance to pick her successor, current Justice Amy Coney Barrett, upon her death in 2020. 

Multiple outlets reported that, amid the chatter, Sotomayor has no plans to step down during the final two months of Biden’s term.