'Conscience of the Court': Mehdi Hasan calls for Sonia Sotomayor to resign

01 April 2024

Former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan has been a blistering critic of the U.S. Supreme Court's radical-right majority, and he has praised Justice Sonia Sotomayor — one of three Democrat-appointed justices — for standing up to them.

But in an op-ed published by The Guardian on April 1, Hasan argues that Sotomayor should resign — not because he dislikes her from a judicial standpoint, but because he fears her seat will become available when Joe Biden isn't president or Republicans control the U.S. Senate.

"Forget Ruth Bader Ginsburg," Hasan argues. "It is Sonia Sotomayor who is the greatest liberal to sit on the Supreme Court in my adult lifetime. The first Latina to hold the position of justice, she has blazed a relentlessly progressive trail on the highest bench in the land…. But — and it pains me to write these words — I also believe it is time for Sotomayor to retire."

Hasan praises Sotomayor, who is 69, as "the conscience of the Supreme Court" but doesn't want her seat to be filled by someone on the far right — which is what happened when Ginsburg passed away in 2020 and was replaced by Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

"With Joe Biden trailing Trump in several swing states and Democrats also in danger of losing their razor-thin majority in the Senate," Hasan writes, "are we really prepared for history to repeat itself? Sotomayor will turn 70 in June. Of course, only Sotomayor knows the full status of her health; still, it is public knowledge that she has had Type 1 diabetes since she was seven; had paramedics called to her home; and is the only sitting justice to have, reportedly, traveled with a medic."

Hasan adds, "To be clear: she could easily — and God willing — survive a potential Trump second term and still be dishing out dissents from the bench come 2029. But why take that risk? Why not retire now?"

Mehdi Hasan's full Guardian op-ed is available at this link.

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