Robert Young, chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, hasn’t said a word since President-elect Donald Trump added him in September to his wish list of jurists he’d consider for the U.S. Supreme Court.
But on Friday, in an extraordinary order recusing himself from election recount efforts in Michigan, Young finally said some things about his inclusion on the list ― and the long odds he faces if he’s ever formally nominated.
“Even though no one representing the president-elect has ever contacted me or asked whether I am interested in serving on the United States Supreme Court, being listed is a potential boon, however remote,” Young wrote in the order.
More notably still, the long-serving 65-year-old added in a footnote that his chances of getting confirmed to the high court are as good as those of someone he attended Harvard Law School with: President Barack Obama’s current nominee to the Supreme Court.
“Indeed,” Young wrote, “I am confident that the only two sexagenarians guaranteed to never be confirmed by the Senate are me and my law school classmate, Judge Merrick Garland.”
Garland turned 64 in November, and his age was one thing his critics cited at the time of his nomination, reasoning that a younger nominee had a higher likelihood of confirmation and of leaving a longer mark on the court.
Now that Trump’s election has virtually shut Garland out of the running, it’s only a matter of time until the president-elect makes his own choice.