Souter Stepping Down
| Thu Apr. 30, 2009 6:33 PM PDT
Looks like Obama gets to put one more thing on his plate:
NPR has learned that Supreme Court Justice David Souter is planning to retire at the end of the court's current term.
....Souter is expected to remain on the bench until a successor has been chosen and confirmed, which may or may not be accomplished before the court reconvenes in October.
At 69, Souter is nowhere near the oldest member of the court, but he has made clear to friends for some time now that he wanted to leave Washington, a city he has never liked, and return to his native New Hampshire.
This won't change the ideological makeup of the court a lot, but it will probably move it to the left both a little more reliably and for a longer time. Plus it'll give conservative activists another thing to go bananas over now that the tea parties have run out of steam. That should be entertaining.
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Comments
Souter
Submitted by Rich in NJ (not verified) on Thu Apr. 30, 2009 6:58 PM PDT.
Actually, Souter is a true conservative in the tradition of O.W. Holmes, Jr., believing that a state legislature is free to enact legislation as long as it's reasonable. Unfortunately, today's "conservatives" don't believe that, which points to the confusion that let to Souter's appointment.
John Sununu told Bush I that Souter was a conservative, failing to understand that there is a difference between a judicial conservative and a political conservative.
who to appoint?
Submitted by Snarki, child of Loki (not verified) on Thu Apr. 30, 2009 7:17 PM PDT.
Appoint Bill Clinton!
Then, after Scalia's massive coronary, and Thomas's head explodes (or the other way around, depending on the breaks), there'll be two more appointments to make.
Appointing Big Dog would be
Submitted by jimBOB on Thu Apr. 30, 2009 8:08 PM PDT.
Appointing Big Dog would be fun but impractical; aside from the desire to put on a woman/person of color, Bill is too old to stay on for the long term. Not to mention I dunno if he'd like the essentially cloistered life of the justices.
I'd like to see somebody relatively young and unapologetically progressive. Unless they go for a milquetoast moderate the thugs won't be giving them any votes on it anyway.
Inquirering Minds
Submitted by Keith G on Thu Apr. 30, 2009 7:29 PM PDT.
I wonder what role Sen. Arlen Specter will now play in the "pagentry" of the advise and consent process.
Who will be the new ranking member?
Edit update: Looks like Orrin Hatch
5:2 odds on a Latina
Submitted by madprofessah on Thu Apr. 30, 2009 7:40 PM PDT.
I think he has to appoint a female, and if he could get a person of color, especially Latina then he would be all good. At least he shouldn't have to worry about a filibuster.
The current frontrunner is: Sonia Sotomayor (2nd circuit appeals court judge of Puerto Rican descent who also happens to have diabetes and was appointed by a Republican!)
Who could resist a disabled, female Hispanic federal judge with a thick New Yawk accent?
I blog at MadProfessah.com
Time for a sweep
Submitted by daCascadian (not verified) on Thu Apr. 30, 2009 9:59 PM PDT.
I`m gonna do Snarki one better & try for a threefer.
An African-American or Latino lesbian. And following up on madprofessah maybe a disabled one.
That should clear out Scalia and Thomas and with some luck get another one of the fascists as well.
Can`t happen soon enough. Clean the bench !
"....this world is not a playground where children at play are pampered by friendly nannies..." - Wendelin Wiedeking
Cass Sunstein would make an
Submitted by Cass Sunstein (not verified) on Fri May. 1, 2009 12:19 AM PDT.
Cass Sunstein would make an excellent justice. If necessary he could use his incredibly agile and powerful mind to think like a Latina lesbian.
"That should be entertaining."
Submitted by sdean7855 on Fri May. 1, 2009 2:52 AM PDT.
Yes but. Running a government in partnership with a declining party exhibiting senile dementia may be entertaining, but it's a bad situation:
= sets up the Dems for unchecked excesses
= we don't get the very real contribution of the sensible right (I have to believe that it's out there).
Dunno how it could be done, but what's really necessary to restore professional journalism to the right-leaning (well, more than leaning) news and commentary. Their hate, conspiracy theory, it's-a-fact-if-I-repeat-bogus-nonsense-often-enough, attack journalism is poisoning the polity. Isn't there some way to bring sanity back to the airwaves? Yeah, yeah, it would violate their free speech rights....except that they're screaming fire in a fragile world.
My suggestion ....
Submitted by optical weenie on Fri May. 1, 2009 7:37 AM PDT.
Inkblot would make a fine candidate.
Media sanity start
Submitted by daCascadian (not verified) on Fri May. 1, 2009 8:15 AM PDT.
sdean7855 >"...Isn't there some way to bring sanity back to the airwaves?..."
Allow The Comedy Channel/The Onion to take over & run FauxNoise since they are so close in content already. OK, ok I will admit that both The Comedy Channel & The Onion are a little more serious news sources than Faux.
"Liberalism is trust of the people tempered by prudence. Conservatism is distrust of the people tempered by fear." - William E. Gladstone
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