Oh, boy… like we don’t have enough take-no-prisoners battles between left and right in this country, here we go again:
Justice John Paul Stevens, the longest-serving member of the current Supreme Court and the leader of its liberal wing, announced his retirement today, giving President Obama his second chance to make a mark on the nation’s highest court.
Stevens, who will turn 90 on April 20, said in a letter to “My dear Mr. President” that he will leave the court at the conclusion of the current term at the end of June. Stevens said he was announcing now so that the president would have time to make a nomination and the Senate to confirm in time for the start of the court’s new term next October.
It will be Obama’s second Supreme Court appointment after Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who was named last year to replace retiring Justice David Souter.
Stevens was appointed to the high court by President Gerald Ford, and joined the court on Dec. 19, 1975. His retirement is not a surprise and the White House has been preparing for the opening. Aides and Democrats close to the process name three people as likely frontrunners for the job: Solicitor General Elena Kagan, who Obama made the first woman to hold that post, and two appellate court judges, Diane Wood of Chicago and Merrick Garland of Washington….
I say again, with world-weary intonation: oh, boy…
I don’t suppose it’s possible to ask for some honesty and courtesy from both sides? I don’t expect it at this point, tho.
Here’s what Lindsey Graham had to say:
“While I disagreed with many of Justice Stevens’ decisions, I respect his long service on the court. I look forward to reviewing the qualifications and record of the President’s nominee to replace Justice Stevens, the leader of the liberal bloc of the court. I expect the Judiciary Committee hearings on the next nominee to be civil, deliberative, thorough, challenging, and informative.”
Yeah, well — if everyone on the committee were like YOU, Lindsey, that might happen.
Unfortunately, Lindsey Graham is just about the ONLY senator now from either side of the aisle who still approaches these things as an honest arbiter.
That’s why he voted for Justice Sotomayor — maybe she wasn’t his cup of tea ideologically, but she was qualified, and elections have consequences. Presidents should get their pick of QUALIFIED applicants, to a great extent.
John McCain said the same thing back during the presidential campaign, and he always put that principal into action in the past. But not on Sotomayor. So McCain has sort of fallen by the wayside on this, and on other things (did you hear he’s now insisting that he’s NOT a maverick?).
Makes me wonder: Aside from Graham, what happened to the Gang of 14?
I wish they’d require these old farts to retire before they’re one foot in the grave. The same goes with Senators and Congressmen.
Wisdom comes with age, or not–but youth rarely has it.