'Frankly just crass': Trump allies at war over forcing out conservative SCOTUS justices
It didn't take long after Donald Trump won a second term as president after three tries for squabbling to begin among allies in a hurry to make radical changes in government to ensure a conservative majority for decades.
According to a report from the New York Times, two conservative allies of Trump are butting heads over the suggestion that two of the oldest Supreme Court justices, Clarence Thomas, 76, and Sam Alito, 74, should step aside so the incoming president can choose two younger conservatives with decades in front of them to serve.
As the Times is reporting, the speculation has "prompted fissures in the conservative world, eliciting a striking rebuke from Leonard Leo, a leader of the Federalist Society and arguably the most powerful figure in the conservative legal movement."
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Leo, who oversees a massive war chest, complained on Friday, "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."
On the other side of the divide is Mike Davis, a controversial former top aide for Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, who has been rumored as a candidate to be Trump's next attorney general.
The Times reports, Davis threw fuel on the fire with a post-election social media post where he wrote: "Prediction: Justice Sam Alito is gleefully packing up his chambers.”
After Leo said in a statement, "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,” Davis
In his own statement, Mr. Davis pushed back, ":“It’s amusing to watch D.C. conservatives pretend to care about Supreme Court justices now, after they sat on the sidelines with all the money during the years of vicious attacks against conservative justices.”
The report adds, "Coaxing aging justices to give up their tremendous power and status can be a delicate and complicated task, and openly suggesting it is time to retire risks backfiring by making them more resistant to the idea. Overt discussion that either justice might interpret as an effort to nudge them toward the door provoked an unusual response from Mr. Leo."
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