Following the Texas abortion bill effectively ending all abortion in the state past the 6th week of pregnancy, abortion supporters seethed at the law, which the Supreme Court voted not to stop on a vote of 5-4. Many took aim at the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg for not stepping down during the Obama years to prevent a Republican from flipping her seat on the court with a conservative justice.
The Daily Caller reports:
Many argued that Ginsburg, who passed away in September of 2020, should have retired while former President Barack Obama was in office and had a majority in the Senate. That would have ensured that Obama would choose her replacement rather than former President Donald Trump, who replaced Ginsburg just before the 2020 presidential election with Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
The theory was that one more left-leaning judge might have made the difference on the Texas law before it was allowed to take effect on Sept. 1.
https://twitter.com/nandelabra/status/1433289502685020161?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1433289502685020161%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdailycaller.com%2F2021%2F09%2F02%2Fcritics-blame-ginsburg-texas-abortion-law-supreme-court%2F
Folks blaming Bernie for what happened in Texas are ridiculous. Did y’all not remember the time when we there was a democrat in office and had the chance the tell Ruth Vader Ginsburg to retire but didn’t? Stop it. The establishment needs to take responsibility for their mess.
— Ja'Mal Green (@JaymalGreen) September 2, 2021
In fairness, I got this idea from my amigo @markyzaguirre. He's harsher than her since I think some of her gains as an attorney won't be erased. But Ginsburg not retiring in 2013 was one of the most consequential decisions by a justice.
— Eric Michael Garcia (@EricMGarcia) September 1, 2021
In retrospect, maybe Ruth Bader Ginsburg should have stepped down from the Court in 2014
— Michael A. Cohen (NOT TRUMP’S FORMER FIXER) (@speechboy71) September 1, 2021
Ginsburg turned 81 that year. Democrats held the presidency and 55 seats in the Senate.
A pivotal moment in history that led to the current Supreme Court. https://t.co/SR8KAHJzPN
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) September 2, 2021
And while the consensus among critics appeared to be that Obama would have been able to nominate a suitable replacement in 2013, Ginsburg herself cast doubt on that in a 2014 interview with Elle magazine.