DeSantis vows to appoint seventh conservative Supreme Court justice if elected president

[Kamaji]

DeSantis vows to appoint seventh conservative Supreme Court justice if elected president

By Josh Christenson
May 23, 2023

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has indicated he will nominate a seventh conservative Supreme Court justice if he is elected president in 2024 and serves two terms — in a shot at term-limited Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump.

DeSantis, 44, who is expected this week to jump into the GOP presidential primary, said Justice Clarence Thomas, 74, Justice Samuel Alito, 73, Chief Justice John Roberts, 68, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor, also 68, may all retire in the next eight years, giving whoever is president the power to reshape the high court.

“I think if you look over the next two presidential terms, there is a good chance that you could be called upon to seek replacements for Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito and the issue with that is, you can’t really do better than those two,” DeSantis told the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Orlando on Monday.

“If you replace a Clarence Thomas with somebody like a Roberts or somebody like that, then you’re gonna actually see the court move to the left, and you can’t do that.

“So it is possible that in those eight years, we have the opportunity to fortify Justices Alito and Thomas as well as actually make improvements with those others, and if you were able to do that, you would have a 7-2 conservative majority on the Supreme Court that would last a quarter century.”

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Source:  https://nypost.com/2023/05/23/ron-desantis-looks-to-appoint-seventh-conservative-supreme-court-justice-if-elected-president/

[Kamaji]

Each of the four Justices mentioned is likely to still be on the bench by 2028, so a one-term president is almost certainly not going to be able to nominate their successors.  That counts against Trump, who would only be permitted one term, if (mirabile dictu) he were to be elected in 2024.

[Right_in_Virginia]

DeSantis can do this as the Governor of Florida?   

[bigheadfred]

DeSantis can do this as the Governor of Florida?   

Reread the headline.

[cato potatoe]

Sotomayor could be gone before 2029.  However, a wasted election also means Clarence Thomas would have to live to 80.  The average black male life expectancy is in the high 60s.