If there was no other reason to vote against Trump, there is at least the possibility of him picking more Supreme Court justices. He has, of course, already picked three in a single term, including the seat that Mitch McConnell stole from Barack Obama, which would have been Merrick Garland.
If you’ve forgotten how terrible the Supreme Court has been in the last few years, a simple search on this blog can serve as a reminder. Although there are plenty of other places where one can get information about the current Supreme Court.
Let’s not forget that the last case the Supreme Court decided in the last term is the wholly indefensible decision that Presidents are immune from criminal prosecution for their “official” acts, a decision that has absolutely no support in the text of the Constitution and a premise that the supposedly “originalist” conservative justices just made up out of whole cloth.
Überhypocrites.
Now, for Trump to have more appointments, two things have to happen:
- The Senate has to flip Republican;
- At least one Supreme Court justice has to resign or die.
For various reasons, the most compelling of which is that Democrats are defending 23 out of 34 seats in this year’s election, the Senate is likely to flip in 2024.
Whether a Supreme Court justice will resign or die is more problematic.
None of the three liberal justices will resign, and none of them is currently close to death. However, Sonia Sotomayor is 70 and diabetic, but otherwise appears to be in reasonably good health.
Now, on the conservative side, Clarence Thomas is 76 and Samuel Alito is 74, but both are in good health (so far as we know) and stubborn as a mule at the Grand Canyon. There is reason to believe that neither one would allow themselves to be forced out of office. The others are all under 70.
Then, in 2026 the Republicans will be defending 20 out of 34 seats, and the Senate is likely to flip back again. Would a Democratic Senate refuse to consider a proposed appointment by a re-elected President Trump?
Well, Mitch McConnell refused to give Merrick Garland a hearing for 293 days. Then he rushed Amy Coney Barrett through the process after early voting for the 2020 presidency had already started.
The precedent has been set.
Basically, it seems likely that the Senate will not even consider a nomination from the other party’s President, which would probably result in a contracted Supreme Court with one or more open seats.
Blame Mitch McConnell.
Trump already got three appointments. Jimmy Carter got none. Ronald Reagan got four, but he had two terms. Nobody else, including Clinton, Obama and George W. got more than two, even though each served two terms. Let’s not give Trump, this unreconstructed proto-fascist, another appointment he doesn’t deserve.
