DeSantis drives ‘7-2 conservative majority’ in Supreme Court
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday offered a new rationale to Republicans for why he should be president, saying he could “bolster” the Supreme Court’s conservative majority for a potential eight years in office.
“You’d have a 7-to-2 Conservative majority on the Supreme Court that would last a quarter of a century,” said Mr. DeSantis speaking to the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Orlando. “So these are big things, very important that that is done right.”
His remarks seemed to indicate a new attack route against his main rival for the Republican Party nomination, former President Donald J. Trump, who had only four more years to serve in the White House. Conservatives have praised Mr. Trump for establishing a strong 6-to-3 majority in court, which overturned Roe v. Wade last year, a decades-long ambition of Republicans.
Mr DeSantis, who is expected to announce his candidacy this week, suggested he appoint similar conservative judges – but that he would have the chance to do so longer than Mr Trump.
“I think if you look at, you know, the next two presidential terms, there’s a good chance you’ll be called upon to find replacements for Judge Clarence Thomas and Judge Samuel Alito,” Mr. DeSantis said, referring to two of the staunchest conservative members of the court. “And the problem with that is you can’t really do better than those two. They are the gold standard for jurisprudence.”
The governor also appeared to be critical of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2005 but has sometimes voted with the liberal wing of the court. DeSantis warned that replacing a judge like Judge Thomas with a lawyer like Judge Roberts would “actually shift the court to the left.” He also indicated that the next president could have the chance to replace Judge Sonia Sotomayor, a liberal who has been on the court since 2009.
In Florida, Mr. DeSantis reshaped the state Supreme Court with conservative justices, removing a potential impediment to executing his agenda.
While Mr. DeSantis hasn’t spoken much about his faith on a national tour ahead of his presidential run, he told an audience of Christian conservatives in Orlando about drawing water from Israel’s Sea of Galilee to baptize his children. He also praised the nation of Israel, calling it “the cradle of our Judeo-Christian civilization”.
“Those are the values that underpin our Constitution and our Republic here in America,” Mr. DeSantis added.