Editors at Issues and Insights ponder one possible 2020 election scenario involving Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The 86-year-old Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has in recent years become the most beloved luminary serving in government to rank-and-file, left-leaning Democrats, even gaining a trendy new nickname, “The Notorious RBG.” Her life was the subject of a $20 million successful Hollywood movie released on Christmas Day, 2018.
After a laudable, years-long struggle, Ginsburg is now cancer-free. She has sat on the highest court in the land for more than a quarter century, and is renowned for her work ethic and her love for her work. If she could be persuaded to announce her retirement, to take effect at the end of the court’s current term, it would electrify and focus Trump opponents like nothing that has come before.
The 2020 presidential campaign would be changed into something entirely different from what it currently is. Ginsburg’s unusual decision would be viewed as a self-sacrificial act, motivated by pure principle. You can see the placards: “Ruth Saves America!”
Odds are it would not work, of course; Republicans are in the majority in the U.S. Senate, and Trump is likely to choose for Ginsburg’s successor Seventh Circuit Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a sharp-minded, likable mother of seven, one with special needs and two adopted from Haiti. …
… Consider the best-case scenario for Trump haters. Ginsburg announces her retirement in, say, late May. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell schedules hearings for July or August. The Democratic National Convention in July would be dominated by the nomination. Any of the current Democrat candidates could use it to rally increased support as nominee.
