{"id":2217163,"date":"2024-04-10T07:11:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-10T11:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/liberals-face-manchin-roadblock-to-replacing-sotomayor-on-supreme-court\/"},"modified":"2024-04-10T07:14:15","modified_gmt":"2024-04-10T11:14:15","slug":"liberals-face-manchin-roadblock-to-replacing-sotomayor-on-supreme-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/liberals-face-manchin-roadblock-to-replacing-sotomayor-on-supreme-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchin poses obstacle for liberals in Sotomayor&#8217;s Supreme Court replacement"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fliberals-face-manchin-roadblock-to-replacing-sotomayor-on-supreme-court%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2217163&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Senate Democrats rejected\u200c the \u200bpressure to retire Justice Sonia Sotomayor and replace her with a younger justice. \u2063Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) plays \u2062a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/casey-desantis-helps-position-her-husband-as-the-pro-parent-candidate-in-2024-race\/\" title=\"Casey DeSantis boosts husband's pro-parent image for 2024 race.\">crucial \u200crole<\/a> in the debate, using \u2063a &#8220;pocket veto&#8221; tactic. Progressives advocate \u200dfor her retirement, fearing a shift to the right\u200c if another \u200cDemocrat joins Manchin. The \u200csituation reveals a\u2062 Democratic Party \u200bdivide between progressives\u2064 and institutional\u200b deference.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/senate-democrats\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Senate Democrats<\/a> have rebuffed the Left\u2019s attempts to give Justice <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/sonia-sotomayor\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Sonia Sotomayor<\/a> the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/ruth-bader-ginsburg\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Ruth Bader Ginsburg<\/a> treatment.<\/p>\n<p>Members of the Judiciary Committee, tasked with approving her eventual replacement, have broadly dismissed a pressure campaign to send her into retirement and appoint a younger justice.<\/p>\n<p>But it is Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), progressives\u2019 arch nemesis in the Senate, who is making the calls for her to resign mathematically implausible in a chamber Democrats control by a single vote. He told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> that he would not vote to confirm any Supreme Court justice who cannot attract Republican support.<\/p>\n<p>The pocket veto, which he calls \u201cmy own little filibuster,\u201d is not quite new. He <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2024\/03\/20\/congress\/manchin-mounts-his-own-judicial-filibuster-00148147\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>imposed it for all judges<\/a> in March. But it has taken on greater relevance as Sotomayor, who turns 70 in June, faces a wave of calls for her to step down before the end of President Joe Biden\u2019s first term.<\/p>\n<p>Progressives want to replace her with another liberal, fearing the doomsday scenario that befell Democrats when the 87-year-old Ginsburg died in the final months of Donald Trump\u2019s presidency. But the unintended consequence of her retirement, were one other Democrat to join Manchin, could be the court lurching further right with a moderate taking her place.<\/p>\n<p>Ginsburg was the third justice that Trump replaced, but her death cemented what became a 6-3 majority during his four years in office. The Supreme Court went on to gut liberal priorities, including five decades of precedent in <em>Roe v. Wade<\/em>. <\/p>\n<p>Sotomayor, by all accounts, is healthy despite a childhood diabetes diagnosis, and in Supreme Court terms, she is relatively young. Justices frequently decide to retire in their 80s. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe\u2019s a pup around here,\u201d the 76-year-old Manchin joked.<\/p>\n<p>But progressives, who have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joshbarro.com\/p\/keep-the-pressure-on-sotomayor-to?utm_source=substack&#038;utm_medium=email&#038;utm_content=share\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>penned<\/a> a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2024\/apr\/01\/for-the-sake-of-all-of-us-sonia-sotomayor-needs-to-retire-from-the-us-supreme-court\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>series<\/a> of prodding op-eds in recent days, point to her lamenting in January that she finds the caseload <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bloomberglaw.com\/us-law-week\/sotomayor-says-surprised-by-supreme-court-pace-tougher-workload\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>tiring<\/a>, plus a 2018 incident in which the paramedics were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/idUSKBN1F82HN\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>called to her home<\/a> due to low blood sugar.<\/p>\n<p>With the distinct possibility that Democrats will lose the White House and Senate in November, they have urged Sotomayor to give Biden time to find her replacement.<\/p>\n<p>Congressional Democrats have lodged a series of objections, among them that progressives were targeting the only Latina justice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe brings a tremendously important perspective to the court that was lacking prior to her arrival,\u201d said Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA), a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) nudged Sotomayor to \u201cweigh the competing factors\u201d last week, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/supreme-court\/top-democrats-wont-join-calls-justice-sotomayor-retire-still-fear-ruth-rcna145912\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>telling<\/a> NBC News that \u201cwe should learn a lesson\u201d from Ginsburg\u2019s untimely death.<\/p>\n<p>But he later amended that sentiment in a brief hallway interview with the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. \u201cShe should decide what is right for her. I\u2019m not saying she should resign,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The muted reaction, and even exasperation from members of Senate leadership, has put a damper on progressive hopes of replacing Sotomayor, the oldest of the three <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-calls-new-yorks-covid-19-restrictions-discriminatory-sides-with-religious-leaders\/\" title=\"Supreme Court Calls New York\u2019s COVID-19 Restrictions \u2018Discriminatory,\u2019 Sides With Religious Leaders\">liberal justices<\/a> on the high court, before November. The usually mild-mannered Dick Durbin (D-IL), the No. 2 Senate Democrat and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, retorted, \u201cGet another story\u201d on Tuesday after days of questioning from reporters.<\/p>\n<p>But it is not simply her competence, or even age, driving that pushback. It\u2019s also a matter of Senate math.<\/p>\n<p>Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, helped galvanize liberal calls for Ginsburg to step down. He wrote a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/opinion\/op-ed\/la-xpm-2014-mar-15-la-oe-chemerinsky-ginsburg-should-resign-20140316-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/foreign-influence-and-hack-and-leak-operations-apparently-only-matter-if-they-hurt-democrats\/\" title=\"Foreign Influence And Hack-And-Leak Operations Apparently Only Matter If They Hurt Democrats\">high-profile article<\/a><\/a> in 2014 warning of the consequences if she stayed on the bench. But he argues the set of facts surrounding Sotomayor\u2019s tenure are completely different.<\/p>\n<p>He cites Manchin\u2019s red line and Sotomayor being \u201cjust 69\u201d in arguing against her retirement.\u00a0Sotomayor is slightly older than Justice Elena Kagan, 63, the same age as Chief Justice John Roberts, 69, and She\u2019s younger than Justices Clarence Thomas, 75, and Samuel Alito, 74.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven if Donald Trump is elected, there is no reason to believe Justice Sotomayor would not still be on the bench at the end of his term,\u201d Chemerinsky told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The calls for Sotomayor to step down highlight a common divide within the Democratic Party. Progressives agitate for change, while Washington shows institutional deference. Senate Democrats stayed mum in the face of a similar pressure campaign against Sen. Dianne Feinstein before she died in office at the age of 90.<\/p>\n<p>The latest episode also underscores the pivotal role Manchin continues to play in the Senate, even as he prepares to retire in January.<\/p>\n<p>A centrist in the mold of the blue-dog Democrats, Manchin has effectively blocked the party from eliminating the filibuster and a host of progressive priorities that become possible without it. He allowed Biden to pass a sweeping climate, health, and tax bill in 2022 but not before tanking his more ambitious Build Back Better agenda. <\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) listens during the \u2018Politics and Eggs\u2019 event, as part of his national listening tour, Friday, Jan. 12, 2024, in Manchester, New Hampshire. (AP Photo\/Charles Krupa)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Manchin is not the only Democratic obstacle. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), a Democrat-turned-independent senator, has stood in the way of Democratic priorities, as have several swing state Democrats running for reelection.<\/p>\n<p>But his near singular ability to reject judges who cannot attract bipartisan support, thanks to Democrats\u2019 51-49 majority, lays bare a chronic problem for progressives. They cannot get the legislation they want through the Senate, let alone a judge who would surely prove controversial.<\/p>\n<p>Manchin says winning over Republicans is not such a high bar. He noted that centrist Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) often <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ky-gov-signs-bipartisan-law-limiting-no-knock-warrants\/\" title=\"Ky. gov. signs bipartisan law limiting no-knock warrants\">cross party lines<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you can\u2019t get those two, then you haven\u2019t done your homework. You didn\u2019t make an effort,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>But his veto threat came with a broader critique of Washington, blaming both parties for weakening the filibuster with carveouts for judicial appointments. Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) went \u201cnuclear\u201d to confirm Justice Neil Gorsuch in 2017, following Democratic leader Harry Reid\u2019s lead for lower-court nominees in 2013.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe filibuster was used to make us work together. And everybody, both sides, are trying to circumnavigate that, and it just makes me sick,\u201d Manchin added. \u201cSo, I\u2019m going to do my own thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Senate Democrats rejected pressure to retire Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The Judiciary Committee dismissed calls to replace her with a younger justice. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is a key figure in the debate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2651,"featured_media":2217164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24012517382933-1024x591.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2217163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24012517382933-1024x591.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2217163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2651"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2217163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2217163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2217164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2217163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2217163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2217163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}