By Rick Manning
A few headlines rang the news that some on the left are targeting Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor in a campaign to pressure her to resign from the Court now, while a Democrat still sits in the White House.
Citing fear of a replay of the Ruth Bader Ginsburg decision to not resign to allow then-President Barack Obama to pick her successor, this call could be little more than continuing chatter amplified by the Trump Derangement Syndrome which dominates the left’s thinking. But what if it is more than that?
Last week’s Special Counsel report on President Joe Biden’s almost career long violations of our nation’s classified documents laws, laid bare the biggest problem facing Democrats in 2024 – the likelihood that Biden will lose to Donald Trump.
No honest observer of President Biden’s performance and capacity over the past three years did not know or at least have a strong suspicion that he is impaired to some extent. The Special Counsel report which referred to Biden as, “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” put a dagger in the President’s re-election campaign.
It has been no secret that for quite some time, the Democrats have been trying to figure out what to do about Biden to keep him from having the Party nomination in 2024. The main stumbling block has been the Kamala Harris problem.
Kamala would get smoked by Trump in November in almost every poll taken, so replacing Biden with her doesn’t solve their dilemma. However, as far back as Jan. 2022, Democratic Party leaders and insiders have floated the idea of putting Vice President Harris on the Supreme Court.
A Politico article describing these discussions quotes Steve Maviglio, a Democratic strategist from California calling it a “Win-win.” Maviglio arguing that Harris “checks a lot of boxes: A woman of color, a liberal, being smart on a lot of issues, having experience,” while noting that, “she’s not horribly popular as vice president, like it or not.”
The same 2022 article quotes an advisor to major Democratic donors as saying a Supreme Court appointment would “solve a lot of problems.” With another Democratic strategist saying, “If it guarantees she never runs for [president] again” she could support a Supreme Court appointment.
To sum it up, the Democrats have an incumbent president who has effectively been mentally disqualified for reelection by the Special Counsel they appointed.
They have a Vice President who would be the natural successor who they do not believe is a credible candidate.
They have a virtually non-existent primary process so no natural successor would be entering their August convention with momentum outside of their leadership’s control.
And they have Michelle Obama – a relatively unsullied candidate waiting in the wings to be anointed.
Into this mix, we now are hearing renewed calls for an opening to be created on the Supreme Court.
Call me cynical, but in the mind of the swamp where defeating Donald Trump is the only imperative, the Special Counsel’s report on the heels of renewed calls for a liberal Justice to step down to provide space for Kamala Harris provides the pathway to reset the presidential race for Michelle Obama without a bloody internal war might just add up.
The author is president of Americans for Limited Government.
