She says she won’t be retiring during Obama’s term. Her call, but . . . look at the ages in the chart below . . . in 2017, four justices will be 80 or over (okay, Breyer will be only 79). I think that makes 2016 the most significant presidential election in decades. Whichever party wins could have the opportunity to replace four of Justices, especially if it’s an 8-year term. Perhaps five; Thomas will be 75 in ’21.
Right now, the Court is lopsided enough with six Catholics and three Jews. And three of them come from New York City – not just the State, the City – and two are from Trenton NJ in the same metro area.
- Kagan is from NY, NY (Manhattan)
- Sotomayor is from the Bronx NY
- Ginsberg from Brooklyn NY
- Scalia AND Alito from Trenton NJ
- and even though it’s not quite the same, Roberts is from Buffalo NY
You can have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, or democracy. But you cannot have both.
Whatever Works 
A Ginsberg retirement might well backfire, given the current composition and disposition of the House. If Obama cloned Clarence Thomas to replace her, I think the House would reject the nomination just to thwart him.
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Jim,
Except that Obama will only nominate the exact opposite of Clarence Thomas, which makes your point moot.
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Alan, that is exactly what Obama should do, exactly what is expected by the half of the country that elected him.
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SCOTUS nominees are normally chosen according to their perceived bipartisan acceptance. Your failure to recognize that indicates not that the point is moot but that you missed it.
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That wasn’t THAT true under Bush and certainly isn’t true AT ALL under Obama. Hence, your point is moot as Alan said.
Things are not as they once were and they’re accelerating in a bad direction.
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You’re right! We need a Muslim on the Court?
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We need a few people from outside the NY Metro area and we need a few people who come from places other than Harvard and Yale (of which I beleivve they’re all graduates)
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Jim Wheeler,
Lets not pretend that Obama’s nominees are not chosen for how they will vote on issues before the Court. Granted you have to get them through Congress, but the President got two far left candidates on the Court who are the complete opposite of Clarence Thomas.
Also remember that Senator Obama voted against President Bush’s Supreme Court nominees. Moot,game,set,match.
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