Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor ignores pressure to retire – reports

The Puerto Rican jurist, who is the first woman of colour to serve on the court, maintains a busy public schedule and is a persistent questioner during oral argument sessions.

But many liberals around the country remember the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2020 during Trump’s first term.

Ginsburgh, known by her admirers as “RBG”, died at age 87 as a result of complications from pancreatic cancer.

Her death and the resulting vacancy on the court just 46 days before a presidential election led to a political firestorm and gave Trump the opportunity to make a third lifetime appointment to the highest court in the US.

Trump appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett, which shifted the court to a six-to-three conservative majority.

That conservative-leaning court has made major decisions – from the 2022 repeal of the nationwide right to abortion to how cities deal with homelessness – that have been felt across the US.

With Trump poised to take over from President Joe Biden in January, some Democrats and liberal activists have urged Ms Sotomayor to retire as a precaution.

Her defenders have dismissed the call as ageist, and argue that her health is well managed.

With just over two months until Trump’s inauguration, there is little time for Biden to nominate – and for the Senate to confirm – a new justice.

On Sunday in a social media post, the Republican president-elect said “Democrats are looking to ram through their Judges as the Republicans fight” over who will lead their new Senate majority.

Trump may have further opportunities to shape the Supreme Court.

Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito are 76 and 74 years old, respectively.

If the Republican chooses both their replacements, he would be the first president since Franklin D Roosevelt to have appointed a majority of justices to the court.

In his first term, Trump also moulded lower courts in the judiciary branch, working with Senate Republicans to name 234 federal judges over the four-year period.