Obama should have forced RBG to retire in 2013. He should have kept bugging her about retiring until she gave up and did so.
Wouldn't it be seen as an affront, if a prez tries to push a SCOTUS justice into retirement? Of course, Mr. Trump wouldn't care, but such a norm breaking would backfire against a traditional prez.
RBG made a huge misscalculation because she anticipated HRC, who recommended her appointment to her husband, would be elected in 2016 and replace her.
I don’t think the public would care. LBJ would have found a way to force her to retire.
He actually got Arthur Goldberg to retire after four years on the bench because he wanted him as UN Ambassador in 1965 and appoint his friend Abe Fortas to the court. However, Goldberg made a bad trade, as his tenure at the UN didn't even last to the end of the Johnson presidency. He attempted a comeback in 1970 by running for governor of New York, but was defeated by Nelson Rockefeller.
