Leonard Leo, a judicial activist who performed a central position within the Supreme Court docket’s conservative shift, panned rumors that two of the court docket’s main conservatives would possibly retire so President-elect Trump can exchange them.
Trump’s victory has raised public anticipation that Justice Clarence Thomas, 76, and Justice Samuel Alito, 74, will step down throughout the president-elect’s time period, significantly with the Senate slated to be managed by Republicans. Neither justice has publicly signaled any plans to retire.
“No one other than Justices Thomas and Alito knows when or if they will retire, and talking about them like meat that has reached its expiration date is unwise, uninformed, and, frankly, just crass,” Leo mentioned in an announcement.
“Justices Thomas and Alito have given their lives to our country and our Constitution, and should be treated with more dignity and respect than they are getting from some pundits,” Leo added.
Leo’s feedback had been first reported by CNN.
The judicial activist has performed an outsize position within the current ideological shifts on the Supreme Court docket, serving to advise Trump throughout his first White Home time period as he nominated three new justices to the bench.
In Trump’s second time period, changing Thomas and Alito would keep the Supreme Court docket’s present 6-3 conservative majority and certain cement it for years to return by changing the 2 oldest justices with youthful jurists.
