Gawd, I wish RBG could've hung on for three more months.

[Jeebo]

But in that case, she would have died on Dec. 18. The current Senate and House would have had 15 more days in office. I'm going to be optimistic and say the Democrats are going to take over the Senate on Jan. 3 and the White House on Jan. 20. So, what do you suppose the outgoing Republicon Senate majority would have done with those 15 days? I am sure the orange con man would have IMMEDIATELY nominated RBG's successor, and the turtle would have IMMEDIATELY called a special session of the Senate, and then he would have rammed the nominee through the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings and a confirmation vote. Never mind that it would have been impossible to get all that accomplished in 15 days, THEY WOULD HAVE DONE IT ANYWAY.

So no, RBG would have had to hold on for three and a half months. Three months would not have been enough.

Just sharing some of my silly what-if conjectures with y'all. I know, I should get back to the Real World and think about how to handle the situations we're actually facing instead of things that didn't happen.

-- Ron

[FBaggins]

1. I wish it were another decade... or at least until February

Nominees have been confirmed in a single day in the past (that Lincoln example) and I wouldn't put it past them to do it again in an environment where there would be no electoral consequences.

[PubliusEnigma]

2. I don't understand why she didn't pick her own replacement when she had the chance.

[Fiendish Thingy]

5. It doesn't work that way, despite what Kennedy did. Nt

[PTWB]

7. She could have essentially done so.

If she had told Obama she would retire if he agreed to appoint whomever she chose, in 2014, I suspect he would have happily agreed.

[Statistical]

6. People always think they have more time.

In this case that mistake has larger ramifications that other scenarios but it happens all the time every day.

[Fiendish Thingy]

3. As much as I wish she was still alive, her death has some positive effects...

Including boosting motivation to vote, and creating the opening to expand SCOTUS and reform the entire judiciary, actions that would be harder to justify if she were still alive.

It’s up to the people now to hold legislators’ feet to the fire to rebalance the courts...

[BeyondGeography]

4. It's a prohibitively expensive lesson

The SC has become a team sport and we have been severely outplayed. Judges have to take one for the team. Ginsburg had the chance to step aside at the age of 81 while we still had the power to transition her seat and keep it in our column for the next three decades. She didn’t, and here we are. We should never find ourselves in this position again.

[Fiendish Thingy]

8. Expanding SCOTUS to 15, or even 21 seats will prevent it from happening again.

“But what if Republicans do the same thing?”; well, assuming they likely won’t get both houses of congress and the WH for a generation or more, perhaps never, I say let ‘em. Go ahead and expand the court to 37, 43, 51 seats - the bigger it gets, the less power and influence each justice has, and appointing extremists like ACB won’t matter much, if at all.

[BeyondGeography]

9. That's putting Biden through political hell

The Court is a disaster, but most people who voted for him will want him to focus on the pandemic and the economy. You don’t even know if a Democratic Senate would fully support him. At the very least, Biden, who ran as an institutionalist let’s not forget and has made statements opposing expanding the Court, would have to sell moderates on that plan and Sanders, too, for that matter (he’s on the record as opposed). So instead of going full-force into the problems he was elected to solve, his first six months become all about court packing. Not good.

[Fiendish Thingy]

11. It could be done in a week, if We The People had the courage

If he doesn’t expand SCOTUS, everything on Biden’s agenda except COVID will be null and void if the 6-3 court is allowed to stand.

Oh sure, he might get most of it passed, only to have it all overturned months or years down the road.

If Dems are going to fight to get power, they must wield it rapidly and ruthlessly, and it’s up to he people to make sure they do.

[Turin_C3PO]

13. Biden can walk and chew gum at the same time.

Expanding the Court can be done in a week or less, if Congress is onboard. We have to keep up the pressure on our representatives.

[TruckFump]

10. I wish she had hung on FOREVER!!!

There will never be another RBG.

What a loss....

[CatWoman]

12. from my experience, everything happens for a reason

don't know what the reason is at this point in time, but that's what I've observed

[Mariana]

16. It's no mystery at all why RGB died when she did.

She was very old and she had been fighting cancer for years. That's the reason.

[qazplm135]

14. I doubt it

primarily because after he loses, I don't see Trump doing ANYTHING that's not in service of his own, personal interests.

The only reason he cares about judges now is because he thinks it will get him re-elected, after that's done, he DGAF.

[0rganism]

15. i wish she'd retired 11 years ago

we need young people on the bench as much as possible
look at what the Republicans have done to the judiciary over the last 30 years, they're eating our lunch and shitting on our plates.
we are deep in the trouble now
i hope we learn something from the currently-unfolding disaster