REPORT: Justice Sotomayor Traveled with Medic

In recent weeks, we have seen a campaign to pressure Justice Sonia Sotomayor to retire before Joe Biden leaves office so he can appoint a new justice to the court.

Democrats are obviously worried that Joe Biden will lose, and if Republicans win, it could be a while before Dems get back into the White House.

Those calls for retirement are now getting louder after reports surfaced that Sotomayor had been traveling with a medic in tow.

What’s Going On?

There are now four justices that are at least 69 years old or older.

Both Sotomayor and Roberts are 69, with Alito now at 73, and Thomas being 75.

Since Sotomayor is the only liberal in that bunch, you can see why groups are pressuring her to retire now so that Biden can put a younger justice on the bench before his term is up.

Fix the Court has obtained records that Sotomayor has been the only justice requesting medical help when traveling.

The records came via the U.S. Marshals Service when Fix the Court requested information pertaining to security for current and former Supreme Court justices.

In 2018, a medic reportedly joined Sotomayor during a trip from Colorado to Florida. There was an additional three-day trip where the Marshals Service was charged for “baggage (medic),” which could have been the medic’s bag or just additional medical luggage, which was not clear.

However, both of these trips took place after Sotomayor had been treated for low blood sugar levels.

There were an additional four trips in 2021 and 2022 where the Marshals Service had the mention of “medical gear,” or redacted a description of “baggage/medical supplies.”

Sotomayor has expressed frustration with how the court is perceived as well as the animosity, but then she tempered those comments by saying she is not yet ready to give up the fight.

My best guess here is that she will hold out, expecting to serve well into her 70s.

On the flip side, especially if Trump is the president, I can easily see all three conservative justices calling it a day and retiring as long as Republicans have control of the Senate.

If that happens, we could have a situation where Donald Trump has six justices on the bench that were appointed during his terms.