Former Vice President Kamala Harris warned that President Donald Trump must not be allowed to pick two “additional justices” for the Supreme Court, adding that Democrats “must be clear-eyed about what is at stake.”
In a post on X, Harris — who lost the 2024 Presidential election against Trump, shared an article from the New York Times about how a “liberal organization” was “preparing a multimillion–dollar effort to oppose potential Trump Supreme Court appointees before they happen.”
The New York Times reported that Josh Orton, who serves as “the president of Demand Justice,” predicted that “the project would cost $3 million to start and $15 million more if vacancies occurred”:
Josh Orton, the president of Demand Justice, said the project would cost $3 million to start and $15 million more if vacancies occurred and Mr. Trump nominated a successor to the court — most likely for Clarence Thomas or Samuel A. Alito Jr., the two oldest justices. Justice Thomas is 77 years old, and Justice Alito is 76.
If Democrats were to win control of the Senate in the November elections — they need to flip at least four Republican-held seats to do so — Mr. Trump would face steep odds of getting nominees confirmed during the remainder of his term. If a Democrat were to succeed him as president, Justices Thomas and Alito would both be in their 80s by the time a potential Republican president could appoint a successor.
“We must be clear eyed about what is at stake with the Supreme Court right now,” Harris wrote. “We cannot allow Donald Trump to hand pick one, if not two, additional justices. The nation’s highest court must be stopped from becoming even more beholden to him.”
Harris’s post comes as a recent report revealed that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito had been “taken to a hospital after becoming ill” during an event on March 20, “people with knowledge,” told CNN.
“On the evening of Friday, March 20, Justice Alito felt ill during an event in Philadelphia,” Patricia McCabe, a spokeswoman for the Supreme Court said in a statement. “Out of an abundance of caution, he agreed with his security detail’s recommendation to see a physician before the three-hour drive home. After that examination and the administration of fluids for dehydration, he returned home that night, as previously planned.”
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