Trump Privately Says He Will Replace 4 Supreme Court Justices in His First Term – Wiping Out Half the Liberal Wing

Trump Mocks Ginsburg: ‘What Does She Weigh? 60 Pounds?’

President Donald Trump is planning on replacing a total of four U.S. Supreme Court justices in his first term alone. The embattled president privately has been predicting that he will be able to re-shape the court and get rid of half its liberal wing.

According to a report in Axios, Trump notes that, obviously, he replaced Justice Antonin Scalia with Justice Neil Gorsuch, thanks to what most Democrats see as Senator Mitch McConnell’s wholly unethical block of President Barack Obama’s nominee for the nation’s top court, moderate Merrick Garland.

After replacing Scalia, Trump believes he will be able to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, a crucial swing vote on the court. Although a Republican, Kennedy is credited with many of the 5-4 decisions that have advanced equality in America. He is 81 and there have been rumors he would step down, even before this term began. He has denied them.

Axios then offers this offensive exchange between Trump and an unnamed source:

“Ok,” one source told Trump, “so that’s two. Who are the others?”

“Ginsburg,” Trump replied. “What does she weigh? 60 pounds?”

“Who’s the fourth?” the source asked.

“Sotomayor,” Trump said, referring to the relatively recently-appointed Obama justice, whose name is rarely, if ever, mentioned in speculation about the next justice to be replaced. “Her health,” Trump explained. “No good. Diabetes.”

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the head of the Supreme Court’s liberal wing, is 84 and has successfully battled two forms of cancer over the past two decades. She has made clear she has no intention of resigning any time soon.

Candidate Trump also attacked Justice Ginsburg from the campaign trail:

Justice Sonia Sotomayor does have diabetes. Axios notes “she’s managed it successfully since childhood.” Since age seven, to be specific.

And although Trump is likely incorrect in his predictions, that would leave only Justices Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer as the remaining two liberal justices on a Trump-reshaped Supreme Court.

Elections matter. 

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