A common refrain among Democrats today is that “Ruth Bader Ginsburg should have resigned before Clinton lost, and that would have saved abortion.”
Let’s review this claim, by looking at different scenarios.
RBG retires early
If RBG retired before 2015, then Democrats could have replaced her with another Democrat. She could not have retired after 2015 successfully because McConnell successfully blocked every appointment Obama had a right to fill.
If RBG had retired before Republicans took the Senate in 2014 the Supreme Court and Trump still won then would have had the following makeup in 2020:
Liberal (4): Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan and Obama pick #3
Conservative (5): Roberts, Thomas, Gorsuch, Alito, Kavanaugh
Roe v Wade would still have been overturned.
We Vote for the Email lady
Hillary Clinton is elected, we do not take the Senate. Nothing else changes. What does the court look like in 2020:
Liberal (3): Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan
Conservative (4): Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Kennedy
Roe v Wade would still have been overturned.
We Vote for the Email lady and elect a Democratic Senate
Liberal (5): Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan, Scalia replacement, Ginsburg replacement
Conservative (4): Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Kennedy
Roe v Wade would have been protected.
This is the only path we had for truly protecting Roe v Wade.
The way American politics works, you need to keep the Senate to decide who joins the federal bench. That’s just how the system is designed.
Democrats need to keep the Senate.