[DeilMikina]

CNN is reporting tonight that the resignation of Justice Stevens is expected at some time this month.

Related:

In an interview in early March, Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens said he would make up his mind in about a month's time about when to retire from the High Court. That deadline is fast approaching.

The anchor of the court's liberal wing, Justice Stevens has made it clear that his days on the bench are numbered. Stevens told legal savant and New Yorker contributor Jeffrey Toobin the following: "You can say I will retire within the next three years. I'm sure of that."

Speculation about the timing of a Justice's retirement invariably tends to be just that -- speculative. (Prognosticators who tried to divine the direction of monetary policy by looking at the size of ex-Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan's briefcase were proven embarrassingly wrong).

But where Justice Stevens is concerned, the signs are increasingly suggestive: the octogenarian is on the brink of turning 90 and last fall, he appointed a single law clerk, as opposed to his usual four.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0..._n_513971.html

[Ltftujkg]

Yet another thing for FOX to strike a massive "panties in a bundle" episode among the masses by moving from a psuedo "fair and balanced" media network to political activists... Great.

And to think... Tea probably makes Justice Stevens incontinent...

[iNYZgxNC]

I think he's probably the most interesting man in Washington. If it's true, I hope he lives long enough to enjoy a few years of relaxed retirement.

[DeilMikina]

I think he's probably the most interesting man in Washington. If it's true, I hope he lives long enough to enjoy a few years of relaxed retirement.

And to write a really juicy book.

[Ltftujkg]

And to write a really juicy book.

At his age, anything juicy may be extremely dangerous.

[cinggooft]

And to write a really juicy book.

Would never happen. Supreme Court justices exist in their own world, rarely granting interviews. It seems to be some behind closed door pledge they take. They don't allow hearings to be televised, they actively disengage from public discussion. Supposedly the then seated Court was scandalized by Woodward's "The Brethren", because they could not beleive Potter Stewart revealed so many details about how the Court came to some of its biggest decisions during the 70s (it wasn't publicly revealed that it was Stewart that cooperated with Woodward until after Stewart's death).

Shame, because some of the personal stuff that leaks out is fascinating. Of all of them, te two closest personally are Scalia and Ginsberg who are politically probably the two furthest apart in their beliefs.

[cinggooft]

It's official:

Stevens 'leaves at the top of his game,' Obama says By the CNN Wire Staff
April 9, 2010 3:44 p.m. EDT

Washington (CNN) -- Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens said Friday he will retire this year, giving President Obama another opportunity to shape the nation's highest court.

Stevens, who turns 90 on April 20 and has served nearly 35 years on the court, announced his resignation in a brief letter delivered to the White House at 10:30 a.m. Friday.

Obama lauded the retiring justice Friday afternoon and said he will move quickly to fill the vacancy before the court reconvenes in October.

"He turns 90 this month, but he leaves at the top of his game," the president said from the White House. "His leadership will be sorely missed."

Stevens referred to the timing of his resignation in his letter to Obama.

"My dear Mr. President," Stevens wrote. "Having concluded that it would be in the best interests of the court to have my successor appointed and confirmed well in advance of the commencement of the court's next term, I shall retire from regular active service as an associate justice ... effective the next day after the court rises for the summer recess this year."

White House counsel Bob Bauer discussed Stevens' retirement by telephone Friday morning with Obama, who was returning from Europe aboard Air Force One.

Stevens was at a second home Friday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a court official said.

Speculation over Stevens had increased after he confirmed last fall he hired one law clerk for the next court term, which begins in October. Sitting justices can hire four law clerks, while retired members get only one.

Stevens also was not on the bench for a brief public session Monday; the court will hold its next public session in two weeks.

Rest of story: http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/04/09/...ex.html?hpt=T1

[OvDojQXN]

I've only seen one list of "potentials". Of the nine listed there are only two males.

The early front runner is Elena Kagan, the Solicitor General.


I'm hoping they'll pick Cass Sunstein.


The list is on http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0..._n_531712.html

[OvDojQXN]

The New York Times list:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...andidates.html

[DeilMikina]

I'd like to see someone left of center, but under the current political climate I don't see that happening.

[cinggooft]

God bless whoever gets the call. Their background is going to be probed so deeply, it'll make the Bork hearings seem like polite dinner conversation.

From what I have read, I like Elena K. But my hunch is Obama will appont an African American so Thurgood Marshall can stop spinning in his grave every time Thomas writes an opinion.

[DeilMikina]

God bless whoever gets the call. Their background is going to be probed so deeply, it'll make the Bork hearings seem like polite dinner conversation.

From what I have read, I like Elena K. But my hunch is Obama will appont an African American so Thurgood Marshall can stop spinning in his grave every time Thomas writes an opinion.

Unfortunately I don't think the President has the time (or possibly even the will) to fight for a nominee. I expect middle to right.

But you're correct... God bless whoever gets the call.

[Karpattaisp]

Justice Stevens is a strong liberal voice, we cannot afford to have that seat turned over to someone right of center, the court is already making crazy decisions as it is. I'm not sure Obama can afford to not be up for the fight, these are some of the most lasting decisions he will make as President. The court needs to maintain some liberal voices for at least balance, at this point.

Also, I hope that Justice Stevens gets to enjoy his retirement.

[cinggooft]

. But my hunch is Obama will appont an African American so Thurgood Marshall can stop spinning in his grave every time Thomas writes an opinion.

It's been confirmed that Leah Ward Sears is on the short list as well:


Former Georgia Supreme Court chief justice Leah Ward Sears is also on the short list, a senior White House official tells ABC News.‬‪

Sears, who will turn 55 in June, was the first female African-American chief justice in US history, and when nominated for the state supreme court by then-Gov. Zell Miller in 1992, she became the first woman and the youngest person to ever sit on the court.‬‪

She stepped down from the court last year and currently practices law at Schiff Hardin.‬‪

A graduate of Emory University Law School, Sears was on President Obama’s short list last year. A member of the left-leaning American Constitution Society, she is also a friend of conservative Justice Clarence Thomas.‬ http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpu...hort-list.html

[iNYZgxNC]

Interesting. Wouldn't that make her the only non-Ivy League law grad on the court?

EDIT: Stevens was a Northwestern law grad.

[cinggooft]

Interesting. Wouldn't that make her the only non-Ivy League law grad on the court?

EDIT: Stevens was a Northwestern law grad.

It's not even the Ivies, JJ. It's Harvard and Yale. All 8 remaining Justices graduated from either Harvard or Yale.

I was looking around to see if there was any mention of her religion, but couldn't find one in a quick search. Right now, not counting Stevens, the make up is 6 Catholics, 2 Jews.

[Theariwinna]

It's not even the Ivies, JJ. It's Harvard and Yale. All 8 remaining Justices graduated from either Harvard or Yale.

I was looking around to see if there was any mention of her religion, but couldn't find one in a quick search. Right now, not counting Stevens, the make up is 6 Catholics, 2 Jews.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg started at Harvard, but she graduated from Columbia Law.

[cinggooft]

Ruth Bader Ginsburg started at Harvard, but she graduated from Columbia Law.

Oh, okay. Thanks, M8. They were saying on either CNN or ABC this weekend that all 8 had attended either Harvard or Yale Law. I guess technically they were correct.

[OvDojQXN]

Another name on the list.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's candidates for the Supreme Court include a new name, federal appeals court Judge Sidney Thomas of Montana, and at least six others who were considered contenders when Obama chose his first high court nominee last year, The Associated Press has learned.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0..._n_534604.html

[OvDojQXN]

The President is being urged to pick a non Ivy League justice.

This past Sunday, during the panel session on "Fox News Sunday", the Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol, a Harvard graduate and professor, urged the president with his next Supreme Court pick to stand up to a powerful interest: the Ivy League.
"I think it would be good to have a nominee that stood up against powerful interests like the elite law schools, which are a powerful interest in the U.S. and have done a lot of damage," Kristol said. "And I believe if Elena Kagan is nominated, which I expect, the Solicitor General, every person on the court will have gone to Ivy League law school."
This was surely not just a bit of self-deprecation on Kristol's part. Nor was it an attempt to sabotage Kagan's chances. After all, he went on to nearly endorse Kagan, saying that she was a "very respectable choice" with "impressive academic credentials."

Rather, Kristol's sentiment is part of a broader populist wave that has become a feature of recent Supreme Court nomination and confirmation battles. An Ivy League education or a career in the "judicial monastery" (see: U.S. Court of Appeals or the academic world) is considered as much a vice as a virtue. A humble origin with a non-traditional resume -- and certainly adding a bit of diversity to a bench that has been composed almost exclusively of white men -- is in vogue.
(...)
It started most prominently with Richard Nixon, whose own personal insecurities made him naturally predisposed to the argument that the court would benefit from the inclusion of people of non-privileged upbringing.
"He didn't want an Ivy Leaguer," said David Yalof, a political science professor at the University of Connecticut. "He went to Duke and had a paranoia that Harvard people looked down at him. He surrounded himself with Ivy Leagues types... But he was very interested in his first term to name someone who wasn't an Ivy Leaguer. The irony, of course is that three of his four justices attended Harvard (Harry Blackmun, Lewis Powell, William Rehnquist). The only justice of the four who had no ties whatsoever was the Chief Justice Warren Burger, who went to the University of Minnesota."
(...)
All of which leads up to Obama's pending choice to replace Stevens. While Kristol may already be bemoaning the possibility of another Ivy Leaguer on the court, the betting money is that such a person will end up there regardless. Kagan, after all, has emerged as the frontrunner. Another choice, Merrick Garland, went to Harvard undergrad and law school; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the U.S. state of Georgia, Leah Ward Sears, is a graduate of Cornell; Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm went to Harvard Law too, and Harvard Law Professor Martha Minow got her masters at Harvard before going to Yale for her law degree. The only short-listers who satisfy Kristol's demand are Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Judge Diane Wood.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0..._n_535853.html