Obituaries

[David Horn]

(09-23-2020, 06:47 PM)Eric the Green Wrote:

(09-23-2020, 03:44 PM)David Horn Wrote:

(09-23-2020, 12:40 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: IMO, Ginsburg's untimely death is the worst national tragedy since JFK...

To be honest, she should have done what Sandra Day O'Conner and Anthony Kennedy did: retire under a President who will pick a good successor. Note, Kennedy and O'Conner are Republicans, and made sure their seats remained that way.  If RBG and Thurgood Marshall had followed that model, we wouldn't be under the gun today.

That is a good point. She could have retired in 2014, before the Republicans took the Senate too and gained the ability to block any Obama appointment, which they would have done. I guess she felt she had some good years still in her in 2014, and had the best ideas and abilities, and probably thought Hillary was going to win.

I doubt she could have anticipated that, if she resigned so Obama could pick her successor, that she would have to do it early in 2014 because the Democrats would lose the Senate in November and the Republicans would therefore and thereafter block any Obama appointment. She might have realized this if she was aware enough of history (of 6th-year midterms) and the ruthlessness of McConnell and Co.

It's rare for the Presidency to remain with one party longer than two terms.  She saw what happened with Marshall.  She should have swallowed hard and quit under Obama.  She was already sick by then.