With the current Supreme Court term coming to an end soon, there is growing speculation that 76-year-old Justice Sam Alito may step down from the seat he has held for 20 years, and that is leading to some under-the-radar maneuvering.
According to the Washington Post, Alito is widely considered the justice [most likely to step down, with observers pointing to his age, the release of his first book, and the November midterm elections as potential motivators due to Republican fears of losing control of the Senate.
Just for what passes for fun in this hellscape, who would be worse: Justice Eileen Cannon, or Justice Alina Habba?
I don’t know about Cannon, she has enough wit to at least write coherent if corrupt decisions; but at best Alina Habba is a hack with mediocre legal skills who would get eaten for breakfast on the first day. Even the losers on this court are able attorneys, many (most?) with an encyclopedic knowledge of the law or close to it.
Cannon could easily become another Thomas, adequate, with just enough skill to sit there and hold a line for whoever pays him enough. So I’d say get Habba up there, just because I’d like to see her crash and burn, repeatedly shamed by peers with actual legal experience and skill. Trump judges legal acumen with his eyes, but SCOTUS isn’t going to give a shit what her legs look like when she can’t even turn in a coherent opinion, or worse. If she were to be allowed to throw out dogshit opinions, the court would lose its legitimacy in the eyes of many of the judges across the country who look to it for guidance and decisions. This may already be happening, but an appointment like Habba would speedrun the process.