The blawgosphere is roiling this morning over US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s off-handed remark on Friday that there may soon be a vacancy on the nation’s highest court.
Ginsburg, who spoke at New England Law’s annual “Law Day,” said the nine justices only take pictures together when a new member is added. “We haven’t had any of those for some time, but surely we will soon.”
She did not elaborate and did not take questions from reporters.
The most likely candidates to either step down or drop dead are Ginsburg; 88-year-old John Paul Stevens; and 69-year-old David Souter. All three are from the “liberal” side of the court, which is a criminal abuse of the word “liberal” — “conservative but not insane” might be a better term.
None of the justices have expressed any desire to retire; including the crazy ones, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Sith Lord Antonin Scalia.
The 76-year-old Ginsburg had surgery last month for pancreatic cancer, but returned to the bench without missing work. She was treated for colon cancer in 1999, but has said she wants to match the tenure of Justice Louis Brandeis, who served for more than two decades until age 82.
Justice Ginsburg has certainly exceeded her time in this position by her recent comments on Foreign Law. She has now lost all credibility that she even knows what she is doing when she votes on matters before the court. She should do the right thing and resign. Her usefulness has past!
With the recent tradition of the justices being selected based on their politics, I can only hope that the next justice is selected based only on how ´fair´ they are. It´s high time for a justice that has no personal politics and works only to uphold the consitution.
How can a judge have “no personal politics?” Every thinking person has personal politics.
What we need is a broad spectrum of political ideas on the court. Right now there are no liberals — just 4 moderate conservatives, 3 far-right conservatives, and 2 fascistic nutjobs.
Umm – might you be jumping to conclusions? When was the last portrait taken? The one you post here does not include Sotomayor – I’m thinking she may be referring to the fact that Sotomayor’s appointment means a new portrait will be taken soon.
But without knowing when the last one was done, it’s only speculation. Like this post.