General Categories > Newsworthy

Supreme Court Justice Souter To Retire

(1/2) > >>

FarmerRick:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103694193

Supreme Court Justice Souter To Retire

by Nina Totenberg
 
U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter
Enlarge

U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter smiles after speaking during a dedication ceremony at the State Supreme Courthouse in Concord, N.H., on July 9, 2008.
 
 
 
Justice Souter in an official court portrait taken in 2006.
Enlarge

Paul J. Richards

Justice Souter in March 2006, on a Supreme Court "class photo" day. AFP/Getty Images
 
 

NPR.org, April 30, 2009 ? NPR has learned that Supreme Court Justice David Souter is planning to retire at the end of the current court term.

The vacancy will give President Obama his first chance to name a member of the high court and begin to shape its future direction.

At 69, Souter is nowhere near the oldest member of the court. In fact, he is in the younger half of the court's age range, with five justices older and just three younger. So far as anyone knows, he is in good health. But he has made clear to friends for some time that he wanted to leave Washington, a city he has never liked, and return to his native New Hampshire. Now, according to reliable sources, he has decided to take the plunge and has informed the White House of his decision.

Factors in his decision no doubt include the election of President Obama, who would be more likely to appoint a successor attuned to the principles Souter has followed as a moderate-to-liberal member of the court's more liberal bloc over the past two decades.

In addition, Souter was apparently satisfied that neither the court's oldest member, 89-year-old John Paul Stevens, nor its lone woman, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who had cancer surgery over the winter, wanted to retire at the end of this term. Not wanting to cause a second vacancy, Souter apparently had waited to learn his colleagues' plans before deciding his own.

Given his first appointment to the high court, most observers expect Obama will appoint a woman, since the court currently has only one female justice and Obama was elected with strong support from women. But an Obama pick would be unlikely to change the ideological makeup of the court.

Souter was a Republican appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1990, largely on the recommendation of New Hampshire's former Gov. John Sununu, who had become the first President Bush's chief of staff.

But Souter surprised Bush and other Republicans by joining the court's more liberal wing.

He generally votes with Stevens and the two justices who were appointed by President Bill Clinton ? making up the bloc of four more liberal members of the court, a group that has usually been in the minority throughout Souter's tenure.

Possible nominees who have been mentioned as being on a theoretical short list include Elena Kagan, the current solicitor general who represents the government before the Supreme Court; Sonia Sotomayor, a Hispanic judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; and Diane Wood, a federal judge in Chicago who taught at the University of Chicago at the same time future President Barack Obama was teaching constitutional law there.

President Obama's choice has an excellent chance of being confirmed by the U.S. Senate, where Democrats now have an advantage of 59 seats to the Republicans' 40.

By the time a vote on a successor is taken, the Senate is anticipated to have a 60th Democrat, as the Minnesota Supreme Court is expected to approve the recount that elected Democrat Al Franken over incumbent Republican Norm Coleman in that state.
 
Related NPR Stories

JimP:
"President Obama's choice has an excellent chance of being confirmed by the U.S. Senate, where Democrats now have an advantage of 59 seats to the Republicans' 40."

Make that 60/39, due to that turd from Pennsylvania jumpin' parties......... when he realized he did not have a chance in hell of surviving in the coming Republican Primary, he switched to Democrat.

Josh1776:
I heard on the radio today that under the current U.S. Senate Judiciary Commitee rules the nominee needs at least one minority party supporter, i.e. one Repubican vote, to move forward with a Committee vote. In the past Senator Specter was relied upon by the Democrats to provide the one necessary minority party vote. Now the Specter has switched parties, none of the remaining Republicans on the Judiciary Commitee are likey to provide the Democrats the one vote the need to move the nominee out of Committee.....or the Democrats could just change the rules!

JimP:
They have 60 votes..... thay can change the rules to anything they want, or suspend them altogether......

Josh1776:
I'm sure Specter will go along with the Dems in his sad attempt to hang onto power.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page