re: Hakeem and the leftists moving to remove the entire Virginia Supreme Court

I'm not even mad at Jeffries. Ever since Obama was elected, we've been in a political war. Whether it works or not (it almost certainly won't), I wish that conservative politicians had the balls to do retarded shite like this. Look at how much trouble Boasberg alone has caused. Fight fire with fire.

quote:

---

quote:
They plan to lower the mandatory retirement age of justices to 54 to force them out



Can they change the retirement age for a sitting justice? Are they elected or appointed? I don't think they can sell this.

---

I wondered the same and asked Grok:

quote:

---

The Discussed "Workaround" (Lowering Mandatory Retirement Age)This was the specific idea raised in the call as a potential path forward. It is not traditional removal but a legislative change to force early retirements:Pass legislation changing the retirement age: The Virginia Constitution (Article VI, Section 9) explicitly gives the General Assembly full authority to set (and change) a mandatory retirement age for justices and judges "by statute," beyond which they "shall not serve, regardless of the term to which elected or appointed."

the-downballot.com +1

Current statute (§ 51.1-305) sets it at 73. A simple bill could lower it (e.g., to 54, the age of the youngest justice in the majority opinion) and set an immediate or near-term effective date.

law.lis.virginia.gov

Justices retire: Affected justices would be mandatorily retired (typically 20 days after the next General Assembly session convenes following the new age threshold).
General Assembly elects replacements: Virginia Supreme Court justices serve fixed 12-year terms and are elected by majority vote in both chambers of the General Assembly (not by voters or the governor). Vacancies would be filled the same way, allowing a Democratic-controlled legislature to select a new slate.

ballotpedia.org

Key caveats: Multiple legal and political analysts describe this as highly unlikely to succeed in practice. It would face massive timing issues (2026 midterms are approaching fast), political backlash for appearing to punish the court for an unfavorable ruling, and risks to judicial independence. It has been called a "bank-shot" or "court-packing" equivalent that could backfire.

cardinalnews.org +1

---