A CNN legal analyst suggested Vice President Kamala Harris could be nominated to the Supreme Court.
Attorney Bakari Sellers, who was a Democratic member of the South Carolina House of Representatives for eight years, said that 70-year-old liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor could retire from the Supreme Court, allowing President Joe Biden to nominate Harris.
Harris was San Francisco District Attorney and California Attorney General before being elected senator, and then vice president. While electing an attorney with no judicial experience to the Supreme Court is unusual, it is not unprecedented.
Former Presidency George W. Bush nominated John Roberts as Supreme Court chief justice, even though Roberts had never been a judge. However, Roberts had extensive experience arguing cases before the Supreme Court, which Harris does not have.
When four Democratic Party-aligned independents are considered, Democrats currently have a 51-49 majority in the Senate, which votes by simple majority on presidential nominations to the Supreme Court.
Republicans just won a Senate majority in the November 5 elections, but the new senators will not take their seats until January, allowing Biden a narrow window to nominate a Supreme Court judge if Sotomayor agrees to retire.
Speaking to CNN's John Berman, Sellers suggested that putting Harris on the Supreme Court would give the vice president a new role after she was defeated by Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election while also guaranteeing a long-term liberal seat.
He suggested it could be rushed through before Trump takes the presidency.
"I think that's actually a very good plan. I think it's something that should happen," he said.
"You know, Justice Sotomayor has been a more than able justice. I know that she may be having some personal issues that she contends with while serving on the bench. But, you know, I don't want Justice Sotomayor to be another Ruth Bader Ginsburg in terms of staying too long."
Justice Ginsburg, 89, died in the final months of the Trump presidency, allowing Trump to nominate Amy Coney Barrett to replace her, thus shifting the Supreme Court to a 6-3 conservative majority.
Sellers said that if Sotomayor were to resign now, it would ensure that a liberal would replace her.
"The court is 6-3 now. If we're able to replace it with a Biden justice, there will still be 6-3. The possibility of Justice Sotomayor having to resign or retire in the next four years is extremely high," he said.
"You have a hell of a vice president right there who has a legal pedigree to sit on a Supreme Court. And let Republicans go crazy, ape, I'm even mentioning that option," he said.
"Not only am I floating it, but I want to stir up everything. I want people's heads to explode this morning," he added.
Newsweek reached out to the Harris presidential campaign and Sotomayor's office via email for comment.
Republican strategist Shermichael Singleton, who has worked on three presidential election campaigns, told Berman that Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell would try to fight Harris' nomination.
"Best of luck getting around Mitch McConnell, who is arguably one of the most surgical individuals to ever lead or be in the minority position of the United States Senate," he said.
"I think if Democrats were to attempt to nominate the vice president or anybody else, I think Mitch is going to do everything he can within the confines of the Senate rules to prohibit it, to give the incoming president the opportunity to make every single nomination and ultimately confirm those nominations that he can," he said.
The pro-Democratic Party account, Protect Kamala Harris, received over 143,000 likes for its November 7 post on X, formerly Twitter, suggesting that Biden could nominate Harris to the Supreme Court if Sotomayor resigned.
"Want to blow Republicans' minds? Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor retires. President Biden appoints Kamala Harris to Sotomayor's vacancy with a lame duck Democratic senate majority. Supreme Court Justice Kamala Harris," the post said.
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