Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg just reiterated her plan to stay on the bench, but that didn’t stop President Obama from making a prediction to Democratic donors.
“Not to mention the fact that we’re going to have Supreme Court appointments,” Obama said to motivate donors during a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee fundraiser.
There are four Supreme Court justices over the age of 70, but Ginsburg, 81, has been the subject of the most recent retirement rumors — which she recently tried to put to rest.
“All I can say is that I am still here and likely to remain for a while,” Ginsburg told Yahoo News, while indicating that she expects to remain on the bench for “at least” another year, meaning that Obama may have to push a nominee through a Republican-controlled Senate after the 2014 elections.
A Democratic strategist told the Hill that Ginsburg’s retirement would benefit Obama if it came at the right time.
“It would motivate our base,” the strategist said, explaining that “we have a huge drop off of voters because they don’t care about Senate elections, or don’t think they matter.”
Obama made clear that he hopes the specter of a Supreme Court nomination fight will help motivate liberal voters, whom he once again described as “congenitally disposed” to ignore off-year elections.