The Supreme Court

[Hatfield]

Really coming around on the new Norris account, team.

[Bi_3]

Maybe. Again, she turned 80 in 2013, and there was clear precedent of Souter retiring in 2009 (in his 60s, btw) so that his successor would be nominated by a Democrat president. I mean, just put it simply: US life expectancy is around 78. Obviously that skews based on income, but there's not a really strong argument to be made that she could have expected to live out her days on the court without risking her seat going to a Republican, unless she's either arrogant enough to think that Democrats would win in perpetuity, or narcissistic enough not to care. It's not a major failing, I guess, and Breyer is just as guilty of it if not moreso (it would be so fucking funny if he died this month too) but she's definitely partly responsible for this situation regardless of the Scalia mess.

Pains me to agree with Mickey, but he’s right. RBG was 75 the day Obama was first sworn in and she was in the hospital for pancreatic cancer surgery two weeks later (her second cancer battle in 10 years). That she stayed alive and active and inspiring people for 11 years afterwards is a testament to her strength as a person. That she stayed on the Court...

[verb_to_trust]

RBG bobblehead revenue would have tanked had she retired though.

[Mickey]

Can we also all take a moment here for some internet heresy and admit that if RBG had retired during Obama's eight years of Presidency we would not be in this fucking mess?

You’re making a big assumption about what McConnell would’ve done in that scenario.

Democrats controlled the Senate until January of 2015. She could have retired at any point during those first two years of his second term, when she was already well into her 70s. Souter had already retired in 2009. So it's not hard to see either narcissism or arrogance playing a role in the case of both RBG and Stephen Breyer staying on past a perfect retirement window.

Well sure, she could’ve retired in 2009. I think it’s a little bit of “hindsight is 20/20” to suggest that she should’ve stepped down because of the possibility of the absolute insanity that ensued Starting with Scalia’s death.

Absolutely. This isn't RBG's fault. Most prognosticators were predicting a Democrat winning in 2016 anyway. Rising Latino vote numbers, healthy economy, etc.

I was more disappointed with Sandra Day O'Connor leaving in 2006 and really surprised with Anthony Kennedy's choice to leave during Trump's era.

I think for me it just comes back to what is my general heuristic, which I've previously detailed elsewhere on this board--that the people most responsible for bad situations are the ones who had the greatest power to evade them. So yes, after the 2012 election I (naively) thought there was some sort of demographic barrier to a GOP presidency for the foreseeable future--and maybe RBG did too. But I was a dipshit 24 year old in a master's program, and she was the 79 year old Supreme Court justice who had already had cancer and could retire knowing her successor would be named by Obama no matter what. Alternately, she could continue on the court and roll the dice. She chose the latter. This doesn't excuse Mitch McConnell's fuckery with the Scalia seat which has laid the perverse groundwork for this situation, it doesn't reduce her standing as a champion of women's equality (though her judicial record is more checkered than some of her defenders want to admit), but she does bear some blame for the current conjecture by virtue of not having made a strategic decision seven years ago. Or, to put it a different way, as a progressive I fucking wish she had pulled a Kennedy, and it's kind of the height of liberal ideology to refuse to see her as culpable.

[tragabigzanda]

FUCK ICE

[Chris_H_2]

Nobody who's 87 should be depended upon to make interpret the ultimate laws that help govern our country.

[tragabigzanda]

FUCK ICE

[verb_to_trust]

Yeah but if you're 78 on the other hand!

[tragabigzanda]

FUCK ICE

[knee tunes]

Really coming around on the new Norris account, team.

that's disgusting

[Birds in Hell]

Mandatory retirement at 70 for judges on the Australian High Court.

[verb_to_trust]

Mandatory retirement at 70 for judges on the Australian High Court.

65 would be even better.

[96583UP]

Amy 'Sacha Baron' Coney Barett

[96583UP]

wouldn't that be great if RBG's workaholism led to the end of the peaceful transition of power in the US

what a great legacy

RETIRE BY 65

[96583UP]

Burt, when you become SCOTUS be sure to retire by 65

[tragabigzanda]

FUCK ICE

[The Argonaut]

Mandatory retirement at 70 for judges on the Australian High Court.

all judges at all levels in New York State, this is the rule, too. mandatory retirement by the end of the year that a justice/judge turns 70.

[verb_to_trust]

Nothing pisses me off more than some geriatric person white knuckling it at some job they can't seem to let go of.

[PHATJ]

RBG was a republican operative. Clandestine and incognito, and with immaculate timing, she passed promptly on schedule, always loyal to the ultimate plan. Thank you for your service, RBG. May your seat be filled swiftly and righteously. Notorious RBG, indeed.

[BurtReynolds]

Burt, when you become SCOTUS be sure to retire by 65

I'll retire when they pry it from my cold dead hands