Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, at age 90, is still going strong on the court. But, he wants to make sure that when he goes, a liberal will replace him.
So, he announced this weekend that he will retire during Barack Obama's presidency.
The Supreme Court was set up to be above the political process. Justices are appointed (not elected) and serve life terms, so they never have to worry about elections. It was designed to let them be impartial arbiters of Constitutional intent.
But let's be real. Does anyone believe that is the case? Of course not - they almost always have a political ideology and stick to it. Which is why Stevens has to retire soon. He can't risk Obama being a one-term president and then allowing a Republican to fill his seat. He even takes a risk waiting til 2012 and seeing what happens. If Obama loses, and Republicans have at least 40 seats, they will just filibuster and wait for the Republican president in 2013 to make a new nomination.
So, Stevens has to go soon to make sure a liberal president gets to appoint a liberal nominee to take the seat. And the wheel goes round...
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1 comment:
Well, the House doesn't confirm appointments, the Senate does. Even so, he can't wait til November in case the balance of Senate power switches hands.
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