The results of Tuesday's election have Democrats scrambling to figure out what they can get done before President-elect Donald Trump takes over.
One potential move is to convince Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to resign and replace her with a younger liberal Justice.
Politico reported on Friday that some members of the Senate, which approves Supreme Court appointments, are discussing the possibility.
Sotomayor is a solid progressive vote, but at 70 years old she's the third oldest justice behind Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
Thomas would be 80 at the end of Trump's next term. Alito would be 78. Chief Justice John Roberts also would be 73 at the end of the term. He is 69 right now, which is still considered very much on the younger side for Supreme Court justices.
Historically, most justices have retired or passed away on the bench, many after the age of 80.
Liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died at 87 while serving on the bench and was replaced by conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Liberals are interested in preventing a similar situation from happening again.
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In his first term, Trump appointed three justices. If he has the opportunity to appoint more, he could cement conservative control of the Supreme Court for a generation.
Democrats may want to ensure that if something were to happen to Sotomayor in the next four years that they still have a reliably liberal vote on the bench.
But the window to make any change is incredibly narrow. There's only a 54-49 split right now in Democrats' favor in the Senate right now and at inauguration in January, control of the chamber will switch to Republicans.
