Heh. He DOES seem like the kinda judge that would make ol' Jimmah tear up with pride.
That being said, after reading Bob Woodrow's The Brethren , I can kinda understand why Gerald Ford went with Stevens. He was in the awkward position of having to replace an a "progressive" icon on the court who had been there for many decades (William O. Douglas), and the heavily RAT controlled Senate pretty much told him they would destroy ANY nominee who was to the right of Nelson Rockefeller. Ford's initial thoughts was to appoint a GOP woman so he could play the sexism card against the RATs, but the only qualified woman was one of his cabinet members, and they would destroy her over charges of cronyism. Ford finally came up with two prominent GOP figures in legal circles who were considered to be apolitical centrists - he interviewed both and the first guy was quick-witted, flashy and full of himself. The second was humble, quiet, and self-depreciating. That guy was Stevens and that's who Ford went with.
That being said, over his many decades on the court, Stevens ended up veering so far left he began to make Darth Bader Ginsburg blush. Ford STILL claimed he was "pleased" with the pick and no regrets years later, which was inexcusable.
Now, I don't think Gorsuch is nearly as bad Stevens, but I'm seeing a lot of Stevens in Gorsuch with the low-key, modest, aw shucks, mainline protestant WASP convincing a bunch of gullible Senators that he only cares about following the rule of law and doing what's best for this country.
Yes, I recall the interview with Ford when he was given the opportunity to say appointing Stevens was a mistake, at least in the long run, but he stood by him. I don’t know what it is about DC that makes people who go there lose their minds and their morals/principles (especially center-right people). Power and corruption, perhaps.
Wild Bill Douglas, a real treasure himself (*snort*) actually could’ve served until 1980. It would’ve been interesting to see if there would’ve been a similar Scalia-replacement style battle during an election year to stop Carter from choosing a successor. I imagine had Carter been successful, he probably would’ve picked his former AG, Griffin Bell. Bell might’ve been marginally better than Stevens.