Some Democrats Reject Calls for Sotomayor to Retire

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Some Democrats are not ready for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to retire.

Some on the left have urged Sotomayor, 69, to retire now while Democrats still control the White House and the Senate.

Op-eds in The Atlantic and The Guardian amplified the discussion, while political handicapper Nate Silver said Sotomayor should retire as Republicans are favored to take back the Senate this election cycle and President Joe Biden is running neck-and-neck with Donald Trump. Conservatives currently hold a 6-3 majority on the court.

Those pushing for Sotomayor to retire fear a repeat of what happened when Ruth Bader Ginsburg refused to step down in 2014, despite facing severe health issues, including pancreatic cancer. Ginsburg died in 2020, allowing President Trump to name Amy Comey Barrett as her replacement, which those on the left blame for the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, which provided a federal right to abortion.

Sotomayor, the oldest member of the court’s liberal wing, is diabetic. In 2018, paramedics were called to her home due to low blood sugar and she traveled with a medic. She was appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama in 2009.

“I’m very respectful of Justice Sotomayor. I have great admiration for her. But I think she really has to weigh the competing factors,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. to NBC News. “We should learn a lesson. And it’s not like there’s any mystery here about what the lesson should be. The old saying — graveyards are full of indispensable people, ourselves in this body included.”

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., told NBC News while he was not calling for Sotomayor to retire, he believes Ginsburg would have chosen to retire if she could do it over again.

But other Senate Democrats, including progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., are pushing back and defending Sotomayor.

“It makes no sense to me,” Warren told HuffPost. “I think Justice Sotomayor is doing a terrific job and I think she will be doing a terrific job for years to come.”

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, told HuffPost that he isn’t aware of anything in Sotomayor’s medical condition that would prevent her from serving.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has already said he will not vote to confirm any Supreme Court justice who cannot attract Republican support.

Blumenthal later amended his comments, telling the Washington Examiner, “She should decide what is right for her. I’m not saying she should resign.”

Sens. Peter Welch, D-Vt., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., John Fetterman, D-Pa., also publicly rejected calls for Sotomayor to retire.