Supreme Court Justice Souter To Retire

NPR ^ | April 30, 2009

[RDTF]

NPR has learned that Supreme Court Justice David Souter is planning to retire at the end of the court's current term.

-snip-

[Still Thinking]

Off year Congressional elections are usually losers for the President’s party. I don’t think this time is going to be an exception, barring ACORN.

[La Lydia]

The likes of Harold Koh, probably.

[LukeL]

Mommy doesn’t want him to leave the house anymore.

[Darren McCarty]

Souter is the youngest of the libs on the court, so I'm not that irked about this. I'd rather it be Breyer, as he's probably the most influential of the left.

Souter is 69.
Ginsburg is 76
Breyer is 70
Stevens is 89

[Mr. Mojo]

Bring on the Commie “judges.”

In this particular case, a commie will be replaced by another commie. No change.

[Still Thinking]

Elena and ??????

I think that's Rudy Giuliani.

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

Obama will appoint a highly respected and well known jurist from the slightly left of center judicial philosophy for his first appointment.

There's no reason to believe this megalomaniac sees any need to moderate himself in any way. He can do whatever he wants. He could get Bernardine Dohrn on the court right now if he wanted to.

[PghBaldy]

Whose health may be even more of a concern if swine flu acts here like it did in Mexico, ironically enough.

[Liberty Valance]

*

[fifedom]

Most people forget that Souter was appointed BEFORE Clarence Thomas and that 7 out of the 9 Supremes were appointed by Republicans. OTOH Justice Thomas has been an outstanding choice while Reagan appointed the losers O’Connor and Kennedy. But as mentioned here, Dems’ appointees have voted true to form but we can always hope. A life time appointment to the most powerful position in the US government does strange things to people’s heads.

[SunStar]

Hmm... The day after another “conservative Republican” turncoat gives the Democrats a filibuster-proof majority. Nice job guys. Real good work with that whole “big tent” thing.

[DrewsMum]

obviously.

[Darren McCarty]

Dellinger is 67, so we could do worse. He's only two years younger than Souter.

My fear is Seth Waxman (58), Elena Kagan (49), Sonia Sotomayor (54), Diane Wood (58), of if they really want to play hardball, Cass Sunstein (54), Kathleen Sullivan (53), or the worst of them all Erwin Chemerinsky (55)

[SunStar]

Bend over, America.

[SunStar]

Souter is the result when politics trumps competence

Sort of like... Arlen Spector?

[The Pack Knight]

Actually, Souter is more liberal than Ginsberg, by most measures. I'd say Ginsberg is actually only the 3rd most liberal Justice on the court, after Souter and Stevens.

This is really isn't much to worry about, as it was fairly well known that Souter is sick of Washington and wanted out, and I highly doubt his replacement will move the court to the left. The other two most likely to leave the court are Stevens, because of his age, and Ginsberg, because of her cancer. For the record, I really do hope Ginsberg gets well; by all accounts, she's a very nice lady, and I've always found her to be very intellectually honest for a liberal. Besides, I wouldn't wish her type of cancer on anyone, and she's been awfully tough keeping up with her bench schedule during treatment.

[The Pack Knight]

Souter hates D.C. (who can blame him after his being mugged there), hates the limelight, and, I suspect, is tired of the job. It’s no surprise to me that he’s retiring.

[Aroostook25]

No loss for our side in the sense that Souter was as liberal as Ginsburg.

Souter voted against the 2nd Amendment in the Heller case. In that respect, Obama will be replacing an anti-2nd Amendment justice with another anti-second Amendment justice -- unless he nominates Janice Rogers Brown (we can only hope)

[hercuroc]

Dead nuts on there.

That's the first guy I thought of when I heard that.

Cornel West.

[NinoFan]

I agree with your general ranking. Stevens is the most liberal justice of the liberal bloc, followed by Souter, then Ginsburg, then Breyer. But I think Ginsburg and Souter are pretty close on most constitutional issues. Ginsburg by all accounts is a nice woman , but Souter is an ass.