Ever since justice, Sonia Sotomayor joined the US Supreme Court, she has been a powerful voice for justice, but now that Donald Trump is heading back to the White House, well, there are some out there who seem to be pressuring Sotomayor to retire so President Biden can appoint a replacement before leaving office. Let’s be real here, people, this pressure is sexist ablest and downright foolish Given the timing, Democrats really need to leave that woman alone and focus on their own problems first. Although, as you know, I am not a fan of lifetime tenure for judges or justices. For that matter, Justice Sotomayor should be allowed to serve as long as she wants just like her male counterparts, the woman isn’t even that old, really. She’s 70, if it weren’t for Amal George Clooney be in her dating pool, and Sotomayor is younger than justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, plus her soul is intact, and I hear that that enhances youth, yet no one’s pressuring the men to retire. Historically, justices have served well into their 80s and beyond. Justice John Paul Stevens, for example, retired at 90, and Chief Justice William Rehnquist, well, he served until he died at 80. The idea that sotomayors health should end her career, while that’s also unfounded, she has had type one diabetes since she was a child, and sotomayors managed it without any issue in her 15 years on the court, Holly Berry has the same thing, and the woman still does most of her own stunts. So get real here, this pressure to what ask Sotomayor to step down over diabetes that’s rooted in ableism, plain and simple, her diabetes do not prevent her from doing her job, just as it does not stop millions of Americans from doing theirs and coming at. Sotomayor simply confirms that there is a double standard when it comes to women serving in the judiciary. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was pressured to retire constantly in her later years, even when she was only in her early 80s, it wasn’t her fault that a minority of America chose Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton. And speaking of gender based double standards, what about the men here, Justices like William Brennan, Thurgood Marshall and even Antonin Scalia, they served into old age without the same pressure to step down for this greater good. Yet Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman who was appointed to the US Supreme Court, well, she faced similar pressure as Sotomayor is getting now, women are often expected to make sacrifices, even if there’s no sacrifice to be made. Justice. Sotomayor earned her seat on the court just like her male colleagues, and she deserves to decide when to pack it up on her own terms and at her own time, not based on when gendered expectations come calling. And let’s be honest here, this last minute push for her to retire is foolish Given the timing. There are less than 75 days until Trump takes office. When President Obama nominated Merrick Garland to the court, that was what March 16, 2016, well, there were over 300 days left in his term, and we all remember how that ended. Trying to force out Sotomayor now would likely end the exact same way, with no appointment, and Trump would get to fill the seat anyway. Trying to force her out for political convenience is both unrealistic and risky. Justice. Sotomayor deserves the same respect and autonomy as any other justice receives without added pressure based on her gender or her health. So to those out there talking retirement for Sotomayor, all I have to say is, go be silly elsewhere.