HARRIET ALEXANDER FROM DAILY MAIL
Anything Trump can do… DeSantis teases his 2024 campaign by vowing to appoint SEVENTH conservative Supreme Court justice – and makes dig at arch-rival by saying he can serve eight years in office
- Ron DeSantis, expected to announce his 2024 run this week, on Monday spoke at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Orlando
- DeSantis said there were four potential Supreme Court justices nearing retirement over the next eight years, and vowed to install more conservatives
- DeSantis, in a dig at Donald Trump, pointed out he intends to be president for eight years: Trump can only serve for one more four-year term
Ron DeSantis has teased the prospect of appointing a seventh conservative Supreme Court justice if he wins the presidency – and made a dig at Donald Trump by highlighting how he could spend eight years in the White House.
DeSantis was speaking on Monday at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention, held in Orlando, and said 2024 was an election that could determine the make up of the Supreme Court for the next 25 years.
The 44-year-old Florida governor – expected to announce his candidacy this week – noted indirectly that he intended to serve for two four-year terms.
Trump, having already served one term, can only serve one more.
DeSantis told the crowd that four of the Supreme Court justices may retire in the next eight years: Clarence Thomas, 74; Samuel Alito, 73; Chief Justice John Roberts, 68; and Sonia Sotomayor, 68.
All but Sotomayor are conservative-leaning, although Roberts is regarded as a centrist on some social issues.
DeSantis would intend to replace all with conservatives, further strengthening the court’s six-three conservative majority.
‘I think if you look over the next two presidential terms there is a good chance that you could be called upon to seek replacements for Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito and the issue with that is, you can’t really do better than those two,’ said DeSantis.
‘If you replace a Clarence Thomas with somebody like a Roberts or somebody like that, then you’re gonna actually see the court move to the left, and you can’t do that.’
