Ruth Bader Ginsburg says she’s got at least two years left

March 4, 2013 Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg tells the New Yorker’s Jeffrey Toobin that she’s likely to stay on the court for at least another two years, health permitting. “It’s not this year. You can never tell when you’re my age,” Ginsburg said. “But, as long as I think I have the candlepower, I will do it. And I figure next year for certain. After that, who knows?” Ginsburg is the Court’s oldest member, at 79 years old, and is in her 20th year on the court. As a member of the court’s liberal wing, she would ensure that President Obama gets to pick her replacement if she retired sometime in the next four years — something that would hearten liberals. Ginsburg most recently made headlines for nodding off repeatedly during the State of the Union address — though it was hardly the first time she has had that problem. Ginsburg underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer in 2009 but returned to the bench soon afterward.

http%3A//www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/03/04/ruth-bader-ginsburg-says-shes-got-at-least-two-years-left/



• As long as she retires when Obama is still President.

• Exactly, R1. And I'm assuming she knows that. While the Democrats can possibly win the White House again in 2016 depending on who runs, that's still up in the air at this point so she should step down while there's still a Democrat in the White House.

• Good for her, Apres elle la deluge! She's the only one I trust

• She's tougher than the Dowager Pope, that's for sure. I always want to hug her, but she looks very breakable.

• We want to keep the liberal seats, yes, but any chance of one of the conservatives retiring in the next four years? Any likely candidates? Bush was smart, everyone he appointed was very, very young (by SCOTUS standards).

• I doubt any conservative will retire while Obama in office. There will only be a vacancy if one of the older ones like Scalia dies on the bench.

• Scalia and Kennedy are both well past 70.

• bless her heart.

• Yes, they are both 77, R7. But as I said above, unless they die on the bench, I don't think they will leave under Obama.

  R6

• I've written a few times on DL the past few months that I don't think she'll make it through this year alive. She looks incredibly frail.

• And yet she appears to be doing fine, R10. You can't go by looks.

• She should leave by next year while the Democrats still control the Senate but certainly no later than 2015. But, if she really cared about insuring that a Democratic President choosing her successor, she would have left in Obama's first term since, there was no guarantee he was going to get a second one.

• [quote]Scalia and Kennedy are both well past 70. Clarence Thomas is 64 and black men die younger than white men so let's throw another log on that fire.

• Love her and her "candlepower", though admittedly candles might have been used a lot more in her youth (kidding). She is a trooper and a hero. Really, she is one of my heroes.

• R12, there were 2 retirements during Obama's first term. 3 justices leaving at one time might have been too many.

• We need to get some conservatives off the bench during Obama's current term. There have been books written on the subject -- whoever won in 2012, was going to nominate up to 3 or 4 Supreme Court justices. You've got some really old people on there now. The one you should be praying that we get rid of is Scalia. He's is ENEMY #1!

• "though admittedly candles might have been used a lot more in her youth" Yes, when they rededicated the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannukah

• Scalia is going to be 77 next Monday. He will be 80, going on 81 if he's still alive when Obama's second term comes to a close. If we can get another Dem president after Obama, you're going to see a fully liberal Supreme Court by the end of the decade.

• [quote]whoever won in 2012, was going to nominate up to 3 or 4 Supreme Court justices. That was just a bunch of speculation by ill-informed pundits. There's no indication that will happen.

• R18 - you'll see a moderate court. There aren't many liberals on the court - three by my count (all women), one moderate with an authoratarian streak (Breyer), one moderate conservative (Kennedy), one pragmatic conservative (Roberts), and three hard liners.

• 3 chicks are libs. Breyer, Kennedy, are in their mid-70s like Scalia. They're not going to be around forever. Thomas will be there, as will Alito, unless they drop dead of a heart attack. You've got 3, plus Ruth to get lost, and that's at least 3 vacancies held by one mod (so you say) and two conservatives. With Obama in office, and IF we get another Dem president after him, you could have 7 lefties on the bench, with two right-wingers left. It can happen easily. This is why you nominated youngsters.

• If I die and those left-wing Democrat demagogue racists try to remove me from the bench, everything I have lived for will be proven correct. They all want to take my entitlement to this seat away, always have. Besides, since I've just sat here saying nothing while I collect my pay and goodies, it's not like my being dead would change anything. My clerks already know to check me off next to the most asinine, crazy and angry positions possible. Not like I do anything now. Except harumph and jerk off under my man-gown.

  Justice%20Clarence%20Thomas

• We just need to maintain our 3 liberal seats replacing Ginsberg and obtain 2 more seats to have a liberal majority. Scalia and Thomas may die on the bench. Roberts also has a history of annueryisms. But I rather get Scalia, Alito and Roberts off the bench first. They have the intellectual heft to sway the other judges. Thomas is a lump on the bench. Yet Roberts isn't much a judicial activist unless in the oncoming years if the conservative judges on the bench dwindle I can see him becoming more of an activist. He was find with throwing out Campaign Finance and looks good at getting rid of the Voter Rights Act. He just didn't do it to Obamacare because he didn't want the bench to look too partisan and he wants to roll back the clock on other low held conservatives wish list like Roe vs Wade.

  Anonymous

• 77 isn't that old, Scalia and Kennedy could easily last another 10 years.

• That is one uglEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Jewess.

• When wil Scalia die? Soon, I hope.

• Scalia is an obese man and I can easily see him having a heart attack while chewing his Italian meatball.

  Anonymous

• Ginsburg will be dead soon, I have no idea why she thinks she has two years left.

• Perhaps she knows more about her health than you do, R28

• If Scalia has a heart attack, I hope they will let him die...forget it, he'll live forever.

• Hateful, disgusting, piece of shit bigots like Scalia tend to live to very old age. It's one of those unfair laws of the universe, unfortunately.

  Strom Thurmund