Trump Could Nominate Majority of Supreme Court if Elected for Second Term; Republicans Expect to Confirm Even More Supreme Court Justices if Trump Wins

Trump could nominate majority of Supreme Court if elected for second term:

If elected to a second term, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump could nominate a majority of the Supreme Court — a feat of influence unseen in the United States since Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Most terrifying for progressives is the prospect of liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor leaving the bench during a Trump presidency, allowing him to move the court further to the right.

Sotomayor would be 74 at the end of 2028. She has publicly complained about her workload on the bench, and her recent health troubles and longtime history of diabetes have already led to calls from progressives that she step down during President Biden’s dwindling term.

If Sotomayor left, only two liberal justices would remain: Justice Elena Kagan, 64, and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, 54.

“Were Trump to win, he might well extend the life of [his] majority by a generation or more, replacing Clarence Thomas and Sam Alito with much younger versions of the same thing — and all too possibly expand that majority even further if one of the three progressive Justices should have to be replaced,” said Andrew Tobias, an activist and former treasurer of the Democratic National Committee.

Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative icon and the current court’s longest-serving member, will be 80 at the end of a second Trump term. Justice Samuel Alito, another rightwing stalwart, would be 79. —>READ MORE HERE

Republicans expect to confirm even more Supreme Court justices if Trump wins:

During Donald Trump’s White House tenure, Republicans assembled the most conservative Supreme Court in a century. Now, they’re excited about the prospect of building on those efforts by confirming even more conservative justices, as well as lower-court judges, if he wins another four years.

GOP senators widely expect there would be at least one Supreme Court vacancy during a second Trump term — and if he defeats Vice President Kamala Harris, Republicans would be likely to control the Senate, which handles the confirmation process. Two long-serving conservative justices will be on retirement watch in the coming years: Clarence Thomas, 76, and Samuel Alito, 74.

“High — extremely high to certain,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who is on the Judiciary Committee, said when he was asked about the odds of Trump’s having the opportunity to appoint more Supreme Court justices if Republicans emerge victorious in the election.

“I think you’ll see, on the conservative side, at least one retirement. I’m speculating, but I’m fairly confident of that,” Hawley said, adding that Republicans would probably look for more potential justices in the mold of Thomas and Alito — “particularly if we’re replacing one of those individuals.”

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who is running to be the next Senate GOP leader, said Trump’s first-term model for choosing young and conservative judges would most likely continue, including for Supreme Court vacancies.

“I would think so. Obviously he worked with the Federal Society and other conservative legal organizations to come up with the best people, and I thought he did an outstanding job with the Supreme Court,” Cornyn said.

If Trump were to get two more Supreme Court picks, he will have appointed over half the court, which no president has done since Franklin D. Roosevelt and the subsequent creation of the presidential two-term limit.

“I don’t think any other president’s done that. That would be unprecedented,” Cornyn said. “The three we’ve confirmed has been a legacy, one of the best things the administration and President Trump did with a Republican majority. Five almost seems too much to hope for.” —>READ MORE HERE

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