Will Justice Ginsburg’s Surgery Hasten Other Court Retirements?
News of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s surgery for pancreatic cancer was followed with an announcement a day later that she intends to be on the bench when the court returns to work on Feb. 23.
Ginsburg may appear frail, but she has a “powerful will and physical stamina, fueled by regular workouts at the court gym, water skiing and horseback riding,” the Washington Post reports. Even if Ginsburg is not able to be present for oral arguments, she can still participate in the cases by listening to taped arguments and reading briefs, according to Legal Times.
Despite Ginsburg’s resolve, the media has been airing speculation about possible replacements. Among those mentioned in the Post are Solicitor General nominee and Harvard law dean Elena Kagan, Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in New York, Judge Diane Wood of the 7th Circuit based in Chicago, and Stanford University law professor Kathleen Sullivan.
But there is also speculation that Ginsburg’s illness could hasten the retirement of either Justice John Paul Stevens or Justice David H. Souter. Writing at SCOTUSblog, Supreme Court litigator Tom Goldstein says his assumption—one that is built admittedly on “a thin foundation”—is that Stevens and Souter will retire some time during the current presidency.
Goldstein says justices tend to retire in separate years and not in election years. If Ginsburg tells her colleagues she may retire in the later years of Barack Obama’s presidency, Souter or Stevens may decide to retire at the end of the current term, Goldstein writes.
“To emphasize the point, I don’t think this is the most likely scenario,” Goldstein adds. “My only point is that the retirement decisions of the justices are inevitably tied together to some extent.”
Legal Times also mentions Stevens and Souter. Its story says any retirement plans they may have “will almost certainly be put on hold” until more is known about Ginsburg’s health.
