尽管自由派法律界有紧急猜测，民主党参议员中也有一些人谈到可能会直接敦促索尼娅·索托马约尔大法官辞职，但接近高级自由派大法官的消息人士告诉美国广播公司新闻，由于2024年的选举结果，预计她不会在任期中期辞职。
70岁的索托马约尔身体健康，积极参与法院的工作。她远低于75岁的平均退休年龄，而且她从小就患有的糖尿病仍然得到很好的控制。
大法官是终身制的，他们通常对公众要求他们让位的压力感到恼火。几位法院分析人士说，除了其他考虑因素，屈服于公众压力可能会进一步使法院的形象政治化，这可能是一个主要问题。
索托马约尔是最高法院的第一位拉丁裔法官，她欣然接受了自己作为保守派多数派的主要制衡者的角色，并明确表示她还有很多斗争要做。
被时任总统巴拉克·奥巴马(Barack Obama)提名为最高法院法官的索托马约尔今年5月在哈佛大学(Harvard)发表演讲时表示，尽管“每一次失败都让我的胃和心受到了真正的创伤”，但她选择“继续战斗”。
“有时候我会非常非常难过，”她在哈佛说。“是的，有时候甚至我也感到绝望。我们都是。但你必须拥有它。你必须接受它。你必须流下眼泪，然后你必须擦干眼泪，爬起来再打几场。”
尽管如此，许多民主党人仍对2020年底87岁的鲁斯·巴德·金斯伯格大法官因肝癌去世感到震惊，这给了时任总统唐纳德·特朗普提名他的第三任大法官到高等法院的选择机会。金斯伯格多年来健康状况不佳，放弃了提前退休的机会，让奥巴马提名她的继任者。
假设索托马约尔同意离开，强迫她离开可能会有政治风险，并且在特朗普于2025年1月20日就职前成功确认也是不可能的。这些现实似乎已经被一些关键的民主党人所理解。
在美国全国广播公司(NBC)周日的“与媒体见面”(Meet the Press)节目中，当被问及他是否认为索托马约尔应该受到民主党人的压力而下台时，伯尼·桑德斯说，他“认为这不是一个明智的做法”。
Sotomayor has no plans to resign from Supreme Court, sources say
Despite urgent speculation in liberal legal circles and some talk among Democratic senators of potentially outright urging Justice Sonia Sotomayor to resign, sources close to the senior liberal justice have told ABC News that she is not expected to step down in the middle of the term because of the 2024 election results.
Sotomayor, 70, is in good health and a vigorous participant in the court's work. She is well below the average retirement age of 75, and her diabetes, which she has had since childhood, remains well-managed.
Justices are appointed for life and have generally chafed at public pressure campaigns to step aside. Among other considerations, bowing to public pressure could further politicize the court's image and would likely be a major concern, several court analysts have said.
Sotomayor, the first Latina on the high court bench, has embraced her role as the chief counterweight to the conservative majority and made clear she has plenty of fight left to give.
Speaking at Harvard in May, Sotomayor, who was nominated to the court by then-President Barack Obama, said that while “every loss truly traumatizes me in my stomach and in my heart," she
“There are moments when I’m deeply, deeply sad,” she said at Harvard. “And there are moments when, yes, even I feel desperation. We all do. But you have to own it. You have to accept it. You have to shed the tears, and then you have to wipe them and get up and fight some more.”
Still, many Democrats are reeling from the late 2020 death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg from liver cancer at 87, handing a choice opportunity to then-President Donald Trump to nominate his third justice to the high court. Ginsburg had been in poor health for years and passed up the chance to retire earlier and have Obama nominate her replacement.
Forcing out Sotomayor, assuming she would agree to go, could be politically risky, and a successful confirmation before Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, logistically impossible. Those realities have seemed to be sinking in among some key Democratic players.
On NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, Sen. Bernie Sanders said that he doesn't "think it’s a sensible approach" when asked about whether he thought Sotomayor should be pressured by Democrats to step aside.
