Rush Limbaugh apparently thinks Eric Holder may be stepping down to make it easier for President Barack Obama to nominate him to the Supreme Court, should a vacancy arise.
“There may be a Supreme Court vacancy — and I can see Barack Obama nominating Eric Holder to fill it,” Limbaugh said on his radio show Thursday, according to my colleague Matt Lewis’ transcription on Twitter.
“There may be a Supreme Court vacancy — and I can see Barack Obama nominating Eric Holder to fill it.” – Rush LImbaugh
— Matt Lewis (@mattklewis) September 25, 2014
Rush predicts it would be easier to nominate Holder to the Supreme Court if he were no longer AG.
— Matt Lewis (@mattklewis) September 25, 2014
Currently there are no vacancies on the High Court, but four of the nine justices are over 70. While it is hard to imagine one of the conservative justices resigning while Obama is president, it isn’t impossible in theory to imagine liberal justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, 81, resigning her seat so a liberal president could nominate her replacement. But Ginsberg just rejected the possibility in an interview with Elle Magazine.
“Who do you think President Obama could appoint at this very day, given the boundaries that we have?” she said. “If I resign any time this year, he could not successfully appoint anyone I would like to see in the court.”
“[The Senate Democrats] took off the filibuster for lower federal court appointments, but it remains for this court,” she added. “So anybody who thinks that if I step down, Obama could appoint someone like me, they’re misguided.”
The only other liberal justice who is up there in age is Stephen Breyer at 76 and there have been no reports he is considering stepping down — at least none I’ve seen. Anthony Kennedy, who is considered a swing vote these days even though he was appointed by Ronald Reagan, is 78, but there has also been no suggestion he is considering leaving the bench anytime soon.
But even if a vacancy opened up, one would imagine a figure as controversial with Republicans at Eric Holder would have trouble getting confirmed, especially if Republicans win the Senate in November. Though, as they say, stranger things have happened.