Free Republic

Former US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton reacts to President Obama's speech on Libya. "I thought it was pathetic," he said.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- When Chief Justice John Roberts took his center seat for the first time in October 2005, John Paul Stevens, the court's senior justice, wished him "a long and happy career in our common calling." This week, Roberts had some words for Stevens, who turned 87 last week. And they were not nearly so kind. In a pointed dissent from decisions overturning death sentences for two Texas inmates, Roberts accused Stevens of engaging in revisionist history. Stevens, leading a five-justice majority, said Texas state courts should have set aside the death sentences because the Supreme Court had made...

In a pointed dissent from decisions overturning death sentences for two Texas inmates, Roberts accused Stevens of engaging in revisionist history......... Roberts concluded his 16-page dissent on a sarcastic note, at odds with his amiable image. "Still, perhaps there is no reason to be unduly glum," Roberts said, taking direct aim at Stevens. "After all, today the author of a dissent issued in 1988 writes two majority opinions concluding that the views established in that dissent actually represented 'clearly established' federal law at that time. So there is hope yet for the views expressed in this dissent." "Encouraged by the...