Some prominent pundits and others on the left have started to call for Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s resignation over health concerns, and on today’s Editors, Rich and Co. discuss whether or not she’d cave to their appeals.
“I wonder if the bullying will work,” Michael says. “Honestly . . . I absolutely think she’s part of the class of people who are sensitive to this and sensitive to mainstream-media pressure and the hive mind. She absolutely knows that Josh Barro and Nate Silver have written about this. And she will be thinking about her reputation.”
He looks ahead, though, and notes that “if she feels in good health, I mean, Donald Trump is not eligible to run in 2028. So she’s not necessarily facing eight years of Republican rule, even if Donald Trump wins.”
“I won’t give much grief to Barro or Silver,” Jim says. “They both have decades of punditry ahead of them.” He points out the irony with one of Sotomayor’s critics, saying, “The one that jumped out at me was when the declaration that it’s time for Sotomayor to retire . . . came from Connecticut Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal. . . . He’s nine years older than her.”
Will Sotomayor budge? Noah doesn’t think so: “I just don’t see the idea having a lot of attraction once you actually begin to game it out, not from the people who are advocating for it or what the consequences would be.” As for what he would prefer, “I don’t think she should leave. I don’t want her to leave. I want her to subsequently have to vacate office when there’s a Republican in the White House. That’d be my ideal.”
The Editors podcast is recorded on Tuesdays and Fridays every week and is available wherever you listen to podcasts.