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Is it possible that Justice David H. Souter has sensed what I have sensed in reading the liberals' dutiful adieus to him, their judicial Benedict Arnold? They are all snickering behind their hands. Sure, he pleased them enormously by his 19 years of tergiversations against conservative jurisprudence, after being President George H.W. Bush's "conservative" Supreme Court nominee. But through all Justice Souter's years here in Washington he revealed himself to be a stupendously self-absorbed oddball and not much else. He fell far short of the liberals' conception of a progressive Supreme Court dissenter, to wit: a charismatic, outspoken, slightly outre...

Though certainly no originalist, in numerous cases Justice David Souter has not bought into the worst excesses of judicial activism, either. In these cases, he has rejected the activist "empathy" standard promoted by President Barack Obama to instead cast votes and write opinions that are in accord with the demands of the Constitution and the rule of law. And particularly in the areas of crime and punishment and lawsuit abuse, he has broken ranks with the Court's more liberal wing to do so.Here is a sampling of some of Justice Souter's most significant stands in favor of the rule of...

(CNSNews.com) – Judge Diane Wood, reported to be on President Obama’s short list of possible nominees to replace Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court, believes a judge's interpretation of what the Constitution means must "grow with the times." In a 2005 article she wrote for the New York University Law Review, Wood argued that the U.S. Constitution “survives” the test of time through the “evolving” interpretation of its text. “Over the long run, even though it can sometimes be frustrating to wait for the long run, it has been better to allow constitutional understandings to grow with the times,”...

Is he pro-life or pro-choice? That was the giant unknown hanging in the balance one day in 1990 as President George H. W. Bush nominated a mystery man named David Souter for a Supreme Court seat. Both sides of the abortion issue badly wanted answers. I remember those debates, and especially the uncertainty. America got its answer in 1992 in Casey v. Planned Parenthood, a seminal decision bearing the name of Pennsylvania’s pro-life Democrat governor. In that landmark case, Justice David Souter was the decisive swing vote in the narrow 5-4 majority, enshrining Roe v. Wade as law of the...

Does the Constitution mean anything specific, or is it just a "living, breathing" document that means whatever the reader wants it to mean? And what does it mean if the Constitution is essentially meaningless? What does it mean if the rule of leftwing "empathy" trumps the rule of law? Depending on your answer to the first question, and what you think about the second, you are either about to be very angry, or very happy. Justice David Souter just announced his resignation from the Supreme Court, and Barack Obama had this to say: “I will seek someone who understands that...

The topic du jour is whether the President might choose a non-judge, or perhaps even a nonlawyer, to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by retiring Justice David Souter. And there is reason to think that it might be a possibility. Senator Patrick Leahy, chair of the Judiciary Committee, indicated his own preference on the Sunday morning circuit that the appointment be made outside the "judicial monastery." And the President himself has indicated that one of his core criteria will be "empathy," rather than the typical nods too judicial temperament or judicial philosophy. It is not very often that I...

Listening to the mainstream media, cable news shows, Democrats and the Left all practice “racial profiling” and “identity politics” to the highest degree in their debate over who should replace Justice David H. Souter on the Supreme Court – while conveniently avoiding that pesky term “qualifications” – I am convinced that President Obama’s choice is obvious. “Daffy Duck” should replace Justice Souter. Here are seven (7) reasons why: We have never had a duck sit on the Supreme Court. I am sure that our nation has a history of insensitivity toward “duck rights.” Daffy is a black duck. Therefore, Daffy’s...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's search to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter should extend beyond the current roster of federal judges, senators from both political parties said Sunday. "I would like to see more people from outside the judicial monastery, somebody who has had some real-life experience, not just as a judge," said Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee that will hold hearings when Obama makes his nomination. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, a committee member who last week switched from the Republican to the Democratic Party, suggested someone in the mold of a...

It appears that there will be discrimination in choosing the next Supreme Court nominee. Not white. Not male. Not a career judge. Those were just some of the criteria senators outlined Sunday as they discussed their hopes for the next Supreme Court justice. With Justice David Souter retiring this summer, Democrats in particular said the vacancy is an opportunity for President Obama to diversify the high court -- not just by choosing a woman or minority justice, but a candidate with a resume that includes something other than years on the bench.

President Barack Obama, weighing advice from both the left and right on his first Supreme Court choice, is likely to seek a judicial version of himself: a moderate coalition-builder.

The fundamental constitutional principles articulated in Judge David H. Souter has put the country in an untenable position. He is asking the American people to support his nomination to the Supreme Court without assurances that he will protect our rights once on that court. ... Roe v. Wade are as critical as those spelled out in Brown. A woman's ability to enjoy all other personal liberties guaranteed by the Constitution - her privacy and her equality before the law - hinges upon her freedom to choose when and whether to have a child. Yet time after time Judge Souter refused...

Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch believes the president has used code words indicating he wants to appoint an activist to the Supreme Court, who will push a liberal agenda. Hatch zeroed in on Obama's use of the word empathy in describing what he will look for in a new justice. In announcing Souter's retirement on Friday, Obama said: "I view that quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with people's hopes and struggles, as an essential ingredient for arriving at just decisions and outcomes." Hatch said that statement translates into a partisan on the bench instead of an impartial arbitrator. "He...

President Obama will soon make his first nomination to the Supreme Court in order to replace retiring Justice David Souter. Since Justice Souter almost always votes with activist justices, the nomination will not tip the balance on the most controversial issue facing the Court - the difficulty of balancing a woman's right to abortion and a fetus's right to stay alive. The current Supreme Court has avoided taking a clear stand on abortion. In 2007 the Court ruled in Gonzales v Carhart that the federal government could limit "partial birth abortions" and in 2008 it refused to hear cases that...

Overall, "read my lips" was the first feckless President Bush's biggest mistake because of its unintended consequences on the culture, foreign policy and the national discourse. Among other things, it opened the door to the politics of personal destruction of Bill Clinton and all that entailed, which begat the Republican Revolution of 1994. The second feckless President Bush and moderate congressional Republicans ended up hijacking the revolution, and their borrow-and-spend policies breathed new life into long-ago-discredited liberalism. That led the Democrats back to the White House and gave them solid liberal majorities on Capitol Hill, including very soon a filibuster-proof...

Biography: A man of unusual and peculiar sensibilities, David H. Souter came to the Supreme Court as a complete enigma. Souter, who received his nomination to the Court from President George Bush only months after his promotion to a federal appeals court, lacked a public reputation. As a result, the press labeled him the "stealth justice," an unknown judge with uncertain values. Conservatives praised Souter as a restrained jurist and predicted that he would bolster the right-wing bloc of Antonin Scalia and William H. Rehnquist. The Bush White House assured the Republican far right that Souter would be a "home...

Liberal Supreme Court Justice David Souter is retiring. On social issues, this makes little difference: whoever replaces him will satisfy liberal litmus tests, like supporting racial preferences and partial-birth abortion the way Souter did. But on economics, where Souter was more moderate, it will matter a lot: Souter was willing to occasionally overturn excessive punitive damage awards, and overturn state regulations that were preempted by federal law (like in Watters v. Wachovia (2007), where I filed a brief on behalf of economists and law professors). Some of his potential replacements, like Judge Sonia Sotomayor and especially Deval Patrick, will be...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is promising to work quickly and deliberately to name a replacement for retiring Justice David H. Souter who could double the number of women on the Supreme Court, become the first Hispanic justice, or do both. Conservative and liberal groups are quickly laying the groundwork for a nominee fight that could re-ignite contentious debate on issues from abortion and immigration to gay rights. Souter, 69, announced Friday that he would step down at the end of the court's term in late June. His retirement after almost two decades of unpredictable decisions gives Obama an early...

The top nominees for the US Supreme Court are far-left leaning (no surprise there). Choosing Justice David Souter's replacement is an opportunity for Pres. Barack Obama, and his choice will be an eye-opener for main-stream Americans.

there is no reason to expect that a Supreme Court justice appointed by President Obama will be significantly worse than Justice David Souter has been. But there is still less reason to hope that he or she will be any better than Souter. It has been a long time since the Democratic Party seemed capable of generating Supreme Court appointees who had any reliable notions of judicial restraint, let alone an attachment to originalism. This is the party that once gave us justices like Felix Frankfurter, Robert Jackson, Fred Vinson, and Byron White—all of whom would find themselves on the...

An Independent Thinker On and Off the Court Superme Court Justice David Souter may be little known outside his small circle of friends… but those who know him or work with him say Souter… took serious interest in the law and his work…. Souter's tenure on the court was marked by a willingness to vote outside political party lines, marking him as an independent thinker. "He was a classic frugal Yankee Republican. He's been known to reheat yesterday's coffee in the microwave," recalled Rebecca Tushnet, who was one of Souter's clerks… and is now a law professor at Georgetown University….