Justice Sonia Sotomayor is the only sitting member of the Supreme Court who has requested rare medical assistance during travel in recent years, according to newly released U.S. Marshals Service records.
Sotomayor, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a child, was accompanied by a medic during a February 2018 trip she made to South Florida, according to records obtained by the liberal court watchdog Fix The Court, which requested information about security for current and past high court justices. The revelation amplifies murmurs among some left-leaning court watchers who have questioned whether she should consider retiring from the bench to allow President Joe Biden to nominate a new replacement ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
The February 2018 trip happened one month after paramedics were called to her house in January that year due to “symptoms of low blood sugar,” a high court spokesperson said at the time.
Marshals Service records further revealed that in 2021 and 2022, Sotomayor went on at least four trips where her baggage included “medical gear” or included a redacted description of “baggage/medical supplies.”
The dilemma over the revelations surrounding 69-year-old Sotomayor’s health recalls the controversial decision by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg not to retire under former President Barack Obama. When Ginsburg died in September 2020, former President Donald Trump was able to nominate and confirm Justice Amy Coney Barrett, cementing his third addition to the high court and securing a 6-3 majority of Republican-appointed members on the high court.
During a Jan. 30 discussion on CNN This Morning regarding Sotomayor’s recent public comments about her feelings of fatigue over the high court’s ever-expanding Supreme Court docket, anchor Phil Mattingly asked reporter and podcast host Josh Barro about the intent behind her statement.
“It’s quite possible the Democrats will lose control of the Senate in the next election, and who knows how long it could be before there’s a next opportunity for a Democratic president to make a new appointment into the seat she sits in. Justice Scalia stuck around through the 2006 election, did not make it to 2017, which would have been the next opportunity,” Barro said.
Sotomayor, the eldest of three Democratic-appointed justices, has served 15 years on the court; justices have a lifetime tenure on the bench. The oldest member of the court is 75-year-old Clarence Thomas.
Before Biden’s 2022 appointment of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the left-leaning group Demand Justice ran a campaign attempting to pressure then-Justice Stephen Breyer to retire from the high court in order to pave the way for Jackson, who became the first black woman to sit on the nine-member bench.
Sotomayor has not indicated that she is seeking to retire, but she recently made novel comments describing her work as demanding and acknowledging she was “tired” despite a positive attitude toward continuing with her duties.
“What choice do you have but to fight the good fight?” Sotomayor said during a Jan. 30 talk at the University of California, Berkeley. “You can’t throw up your hands and walk away. And that’s not a choice. That’s an abdication. That’s giving up.”
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Sotomayor and Justice Amy Coney Barrett spoke at the National Governors Association winter meeting on Friday about the inner workings of the high court and the lessons it can teach everyone about bipartisanship.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Supreme Court for comment.
