Opinion

JONATHAN TURLEY: Angry Left plots to purge Virginia's high court

Quinn Yeargain's Substack proposal would set a mandatory retirement age below that of the youngest justice

By Jonathan Turley Fox News

Published May 10, 2026 3:24pm EDT | Updated May 10, 2026 5:21pm EDT

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After the Virginia Supreme Court rejected the results of the recent Democratic effort to effectively wipe out Republican representation in the state, Democratic pundits and activists have latched onto a proposal by Michigan State law professor Quinn Yeargain to gut the court by forcing the retirement of the current justices, appointing liberal activists, and then reversing the opinion. It is extremely telling that some are pushing the raw muscle play to retake power in Washington, particularly in light of the calls to pack the United States Supreme Court once the party is back in control.

A Fair Maps Rally was held in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on March 26, 2019, in Washington, D.C. (Sarah Voisin/Getty Images)

Professor Yeargain declared on Substack that there is "a simple – and lawful – solution: Send the entire court into early retirement." Under this plan, Virginia Democrats would adopt an absurdly low age for retirement in a gut-and-pack scheme: Yeargain suggested that they could set "the mandatory retirement of justices and judges after they reach a prescribed age, beyond which they shall not serve, regardless of the term to which elected or appointed."

The current retirement age is 73.

Yeargain dismisses that number as "arbitrary" and says that the Democrats need only to "Make it 54 for Supreme Court justices – the age of the youngest justice, Stephen McCullough, who joined the majority opinion – and make it take effect immediately."

MORNING GLORY: END THE FILIBUSTER, PACK THE COURT, KISS THE CONSTITUTION GOODBYE

The fact that such an........

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