Justice David Souter to Step down – Now What?
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on May 1st, 2009 4:34 am by HL
Justice David Souter to Step down – Now What?
Reality is completely strange and unpredictable. President Barack Obama is juggling 10 or 15 major crises. Now, there reports that Justice David H. Souter plans on retiring. At age 69, Souter is far from the oldest justice on the Supreme Court. Justice John Paul Stevens is 89. I thought Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who just underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer would retire soon. She’s given no indication that she is planning on retiring any time in the near future.
To underscore how far the Republican Party has drifted to the right, David Souter was nominated by George HW Bush. David Souter is now thought of as a liberal.
It is clear that Barack Obama would choose a thoughtful, conscientious, pro-choice liberal to replace David Souter. There is speculation that he would choose a woman. Whatever liberal he chooses will not substantially change the balance of the court.
My question is how hard will Republicans fight against a pro-choice nominee? I think the fight will be to the death. It will be extremely ugly. Obama will have to chose someone who can stand up to 19x the scrutiny that Harriet Miers got. The Fox news crowd will be apoplectic. On the liberal side, there a lot of factions that would like to be appeased –civil rights activists, women’s rights activists, environmentalists and gay-rights activists are just a few of the groups that I can think of off the top of my head.
WaPo has more:
White House advisers have been drafting lists of potential replacements virtually since Obama took office, and the list is said to also include Stanford University law professor Kathleen M. Sullivan, Kim McLane Wardlaw of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, Michigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm and Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears. Souter, who has been on the court since October 1990, was nominated by President George H.W. Bush on July 25, 1990, to a seat vacated by William J. Brennan Jr. He was confirmed by the Senate on Oct. 2, 1990. (more… )
