--- title: President Obama Hints At Upcoming Supreme Court Vacancy description: The President suggests for the first time a Supreme Court vacancy in his final two years of office canonical: https://time.com/3102043/obama-supreme-court-senate-ginsburg-breyer/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-12T00:32:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:36:36.130Z article:section: Politics og:title: At fundraiser, Obama suggests upcoming Supreme Court vacancy og:description: The President suggests for the first time a Supreme Court vacancy in his final two years of office og:url: https://time.com/3102043/obama-supreme-court-senate-ginsburg-breyer/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: At fundraiser, Obama suggests upcoming Supreme Court vacancy twitter:description: The President suggests for the first time a Supreme Court vacancy in his final two years of office twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # President Obama Suggests Upcoming Supreme Court Vacancy ## Video: 10 Questions for John Paul Stevens [Watch (HLS stream): 10 Questions for John Paul Stevens](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5a50oIh7.m3u8) (5:47)  _Published 2011-10-20. Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens on guns, the death penalty and doubting Shakespeare_ by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Aug 12, 2014 12:32 AM UTC by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Aug 12, 2014 12:32 AM UTC President Barack Obama hinted at the possibility of an upcoming vacancy on the Supreme Court Monday during a fundraiser for Senate Democrats. Speaking to a group of donors to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee on a break from his vacation in Martha’s Vineyard, Obama said he needs Democrats to hold a majority this year to fill vacancies to the high court. “What’s preventing us from getting things done right now is you’ve got a faction within the Republican Party that thinks solely in terms of their own ideological purposes and solely in terms of how do they hang on to power,” Obama said. “And that’s a problem. And that’s why I need a Democratic Senate. Not to mention the fact that we’re going to have Supreme Court appointments, and there are going to be a whole host of issues that many people here care about that are going to be determined by whether or not Democrats retain the Senate.” It was not the first time Obama has tied the Supreme Court to the midterm elections, but it was the first time Obama has explicitly suggested there would be a vacancy in his final years. Two of the Court’s left-leaning justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, 81 and 75 respectively, have been facing calls from Democrats to step aside before Obama leaves office in 2017 to ensure that their seats remain occupied by liberals in the event Republicans regain the White House. Ginsburg brushed aside calls for her retirement last month in an interview with [Yahoo News’](http://news.yahoo.com/katie-couric-interviews-ruth-bader-ginsburg-185027624.html) Katie Couric. “All I can say is that I am still here and likely to remain for a while,” she said. Ginsburg has twice been treated for cancer while on the bench. Obama successfully nominated Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court in his first two years in office. If Democrats lose the Senate this November, Obama would find it nearly impossible to get a Supreme Court nominee with a liberal bent confirmed. A White House spokesperson said Obama did not have a specific vacancy in mind Monday. “The President’s comments were meant to convey the important role the Senate would play in the event of a Supreme Court vacancy,” the spokesperson said. “They were not in reference to a specific vacancy.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3102043/obama-supreme-court-senate-ginsburg-breyer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3102043/obama-supreme-court-senate-ginsburg-breyer/"},"headline":"President Obama Suggests Upcoming Supreme Court Vacancy","datePublished":"2014-08-12T00:32:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:36:36.130Z","description":"The President suggests for the first time a Supreme Court vacancy in his final two years of office","url":"https://time.com/3102043/obama-supreme-court-senate-ginsburg-breyer/","keywords":["2014 Election","Supreme Court","Barack Obama","White House","Ruth Bader Ginsburg"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2014-election/","name":"2014 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3102043/obama-supreme-court-senate-ginsburg-breyer/","name":"President Obama Suggests Upcoming Supreme Court Vacancy"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"10 Questions for John Paul Stevens","description":"Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens on guns, the death penalty and doubting Shakespeare","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/5a50oIh7/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2011-10-20T23:15:52.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5a50oIh7.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3102043/obama-supreme-court-senate-ginsburg-breyer/","duration":"PT5M47S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3102043/obama-supreme-court-senate-ginsburg-breyer/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```