This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Leftists and extremists in America, including those in academia, long have opposed, berated, challenged, and opposed the conservative justices, which now are a majority, in the U.S. Supreme Court.
But failing to intimidate any of them into walking away, they now are turning their attacks on one of their own, Sonia Sotomayor, who has been as far left as any justice in recent years.
It's because she's 69, and they want her to leave so Joe Biden can appoint a younger, but still ideologically driven, justice to secure that vote for leftism for a generation to come.
Constitutional expert Jonathan Turley, who not only has testified before Congress on constitutional issues, he's also represented members in court, has written that that campaign is just one of many barrages being leveled against the court these days.
He cited the "activists and journalists" who are "beginning to nudge Sotomayor to leave."
"On CNN, journalist Josh Barro bluntly wondered why Sotomayor remains on the bench when younger jurists could be brought on to guarantee a liberal vote for years to come. He indicated that many liberals are frustrated with her for not stepping down," Turley explained.
While Sotomayor herself has suggested her conservative colleagues are part of her daily burden, UC Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky haw openly blasted them as "partisan hacks," even though such "partisan" labels were not applied to liberals when they voted in concert for Democrat ideals.
One of the Democrat talking points since President Trump appointed three justices during his first presidential term, three votes that were integral to overturning Roe v. Wade, has been to "pack" the court. That would be simply to add enough liberal justices to the court to outvote the six conservatives there now.
That could, of course, set up a perpetual court scheme that, whichever party is in power, would add enough judges to obtain its desired decisions.
The idea of replacing justice isn't new. Several years ago Demand Justice, a far-left group group that has pushed for manipulations in the court, drove a billboard truck in Washington telling then-Justice Stephen Breyer to quit.
Of course, it was leftist Ruth Ginsberg who refused to step down from the court, even at her advanced age, to allow Barack Obama to replace her with another leftist. Her death during President Trump's term allowed conservative Amy Coney Barrett to advance to the high court.
Turley explained "The grumbling from the left reflects the raw political calculations that are now commonly applied to the Supreme Court. Justices are treated as cutouts for partisan outcomes; the worth of justice is now largely seen as her potential longevity rather than her jurisprudence. Sotomayor‘s seat is viewed as a lock for liberals, who want to trade for a new model before the new year (and a possible Republican president)."
And the activism sometimes goes beyond rhetoric, he said.
"Georgetown Law Professor Josh Chafetz and others are interested in taking a more active approach to making continuation on the Court as unpleasant as possible — at least for conservatives. Chafetz previously declared that the 'mob is right' in targeting and harassing justices, and he told a law school panel in 2022 that 'I want to suggest that courts are the enemy, and always have been.' He suggested that Congress should retaliate against conservative justices by considering the withdrawal of funding for law clerks or even 'cutting off the Supreme Court’s air conditioning budget,'" Turley noted.
And he noted Harvard law professor Ryan Doerfler has said there are "tools of retaliation available, and they should be completely normalized."
