Stop telling Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to retire
Short-term memories have voters blaming Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg instead of 11-month GOP block against Merrick Garland
In the first quarter of 2024, 111 people have been killed in Chicago. Of those 111, only four were in their 60s.
And although Chicago has a reputation for being dangerous, we’re not even in the top 10 states for highest death rates in 2024. Those numbers go to the following 10 states (in sequential order):
Mississippi (top five for firearm deaths)
Alabama (top five for firearm deaths)
West Virginia
Louisiana (top five for firearm deaths)
Kentucky
Tennessee
Oklahoma
Arkansas
Indiana
Ohio
Not everyone has died by violence. The main causes of death in the United States are typically heart disease, cancer and unintentional injury.
And all of the above can happen at any age, especially firearm deaths and school shootings. Granted, cancer and heart disease are more common in older adults, and Baby Boomers’ health has reportedly been worse than the Lost Generation. But younger people are not immortal.
Why does this matter? Because a disturbing amount of U.S. voters are acting like anybody over 60 is going to die at a moment’s notice, especially politicians, while completely ignoring consistent news studies discussing how Baby Boomers are living longer.
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In 2018, there were 52 million people age 65 and older, according to the Census Bureau’s Vintage Population Estimates. Then, that number grew to 12.4% in 2000 from 16% in 2018. Baby Boomers are not falling face first into their birthday cakes the millisecond they “reach the sixth floor.”
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So I’m perplexed by why a recent group of voters are so hell bent on asking 69-year-old Sonia Sotomayor to retire. Comparing her to 87-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg makes even less sense because that’s telling Sotomayor that she has almost two decades to go to lift weights and take a leisurely stroll with former President Barack H. Obama.
I don’t understand the obsession with dismissing older people. Maybe it’s because my great great aunt was sharp and didn’t pass away until she was 100. Maybe it was because my grandfather was still gardening and fixing things in his 90s and didn’t pass away until he was 95.
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Maybe it was because I much preferred hanging out with my parents’ chain-smoking landlord and my Girl Scout leader versus people my own age. I like people smarter than me who have lived a life. However, there’s this belief that once you reach a certain age, you must be dismissed as though you are no good to the population (or voters).
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Last month, a Gallup survey representative called me and heard a mouthful from me about how I feel about ageism. (My suspicion is he enjoyed it. From the sound of his voice, he was in the Boomer generation. In the beginning of the call, his tone was cold and robotic. I thought I was talking to an artificial intelligence voice to record my answers. I let loose about the “Joe Biden is too old” stance anyway, and suddenly that robotic voice became a much warmer man talking who occasionally laughed at my answers. We both wished each other a great rest of the week by the time I was done. Shout out to him!)
No Supreme Court Justice is a spring chicken
Justice Clarence Thomas is 75 years old. Justice Samuel Alito is 74 years old. Justice John Roberts is 69 years old. Justice Elena Kagan is 63 years old. Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh is 59 years old. Justice Neil Gorsuch is 56 years old. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is 53 years old. Justice Amy Coney Barrett is 52 years old.
Every last one of them is eligible for AARP. So why is Sotomayor getting picked on more than the others? Because of these nine, she’s ranked to be the most Liberal, and Democrats are blaming her refusal to retire as putting us at risk of Trump having the opportunity to appoint a fourth judge if she dies (like Ginsburg) while he’s in office.
What’s missing from this conversation is Republicans’ 11-month refusal to allow then-current President Obama to appoint Merrick Garland after Ginsburg passed away. Ginsburg shouldn’t be blamed for the Supreme Court’s current makeup; blame the yearlong blockade from conservatives in Congress.