Sleeper Issue ?

(Sleeper Issue ?)

One of the consequences of any Presidential Election is that the incoming Chief Executive will have the ability to shape the federal judiciary including the Supreme Court. The last time Trump had been in town, he left with three new Associate Justices on the Court. Now that he is back again, he will be in the position to do it again. With Trump back in the White House, aging Jurists, Alito and Thomas can retire and go on and write books. Their replacements will be of "textualists" demeanor that interprets the Constitution in its narrow fashion.


Replacing Alito and Thomas will not affect the Court's ideological bent. Liberal Justice, Sonya Sotomayor, however, is seventy years old and is a diabetic. If her term were to somehow end but after Trump is sworn, that will be a fourth Justice that would replace a "liberal" with a "Conservative," and that would have the effect of setting the Court for Generations.


The same situation was faced by Donald Trump after his last defeat. In the lame duck that had affected Trump then and Biden now. A replacement for Justice Sotomayor is now being considered, one younger and who could be appointed by President Biden before his term ends. A Justice on the Supreme Court cannot be a rushed job. Candidates have to be vetted, and hearings have to be held and so on.


Justice Sotomayor is safe in her seat. That being said, however, President-Elect Trump is still President-Elect. President Trump will not become, again, President Trump till next January 20th. In other words, Joe Biden is still President. And the new Congress, all the new members have yet to be seated. So, right now on Capitol Hill, Republicans hold the one seat majority in the House and Senator Schumer is Majority Leader.


House Republicans still have a to do list. Final Appropriations need to be passed. A Budget has to be agreed upon. And outgoing Democrats will resist the whole way. But if the House GOP Conference can end the Session in expectation of President Trump. and coalesce of what should have been their agenda in the first place, they can adjourn and begin the New Year with tax cuts and tariffs. Like one says, sleeper issues.

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