she shoulda been one of the them with john paul stevens (who was 90).

instead obama ended up replacing david souter who is almost a decade younger than ruth (and without all of the various health problems).

obama could have filled 3 seats if he wanted to. filled another seat in the lame duck period before the new congress was sworn in (repubs would do it in a heartbeat).

mitch mcconnell didnt become majority leader until after the 2014 midterms when repubs took the chamber. dems still had a 10 seat senate majority even after 2010 and 2012.

if dems wanted to push the issue and at least attempt to replace her before then...they could have (including nuking the sc filibuster like the lower appointment filibusters). the only person holding anything up was rbg.