NPR:
NPR has learned that Supreme Court Justice David Souter is planning to retire at the end of the court’s current term.
The court has completed hearing oral arguments for the year and will be issuing rulings and opinions until the end of June.
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.
Now, according to reliable sources, he has decided to take the plunge and has informed the White House of his decision.
Souter’s retirement would give President Obama his first appointment to the high court, and most observers expect that he will appoint a woman.
[…]
An Obama pick would be unlikely to change the ideological makeup of the court. Souter, though appointed by the first President Bush, generally votes with the more liberal members of the court, a group of four that is in a rather consistent minority.
— Which is why the Souter retirement has little influence on the direction of the Court — unless, of course, Obama, being a sober centrist, decides to select someone willing to view the Constitution as more than her on personal play thing.
Still, this is rather interesting. From legal insurrection:
ironically, Specter’s defection may give Republicans the ability to filibuster judicial nominees at the Judiciary Committee level, so the nominees never get out of committee.
Huh, you say. Here’s the explanation, from Professor Michael Dorf of Cornell Law School at his excellent blog, Dorf on Law, written two days ago before Souter’s retirement was in play:
Does Arlen Specter's defection from R to D strengthen the President's hand in Congress? Perhaps overall but not on judicial appointments because breaking (the equivalent of) a filibuster in the Senate Judiciary Committee requires the consent of at least one member of the minority. Before today, Specter was likely to be that one Republican. Now what?
The link in Dorf’s post is to Congress Matters, which has the Senate Judiciary Committee rule:
IV. BRINGING A MATTER TO A VOTE
The Chairman shall entertain a non-debatable motion to bring a matter before the Committee to a vote. If there is objection to bring the matter to a vote without further debate, a roll call vote of the Committee shall be taken, and debate shall be terminated if the motion to bring the matter to a vote without further debate passes with ten votes in the affirmative, one of which must be cast by the minority.Now this is interesting. Specter could allow a nominee out of committee if Specter was a member of the Republican minority, but as part of the majority, he’s just another vote. Here are the other Republicans: Orrin Hatch, Chuck Grassley, Jon Kyl, Jeff Sessions, Lindsey Graham, John Cornyn, and Tom Coburn.
The weak link is Lindsey Graham, who was a member of the Gang of 14. If Graham says the course, the Republicans may not be able to stop runaway spending, military retrenchment, and an interrogation witch hunt. But Specter may have handed Republicans a gift.
And how fitting that Joe Biden arranged it all by convincing Specter to switch.
Meh. The VP probably convinced Specter that the GOP was the more likely target of Swine Flu, seeing as how their bitter clingers like to police the southern border and all, where they could easily get sneezed on by sneaky crawly beaners.
So, like, RUN FOR YOUR LIFE, ARLEN!
Souter has always creeped me out. I swear that guy has a collection of decapitated Barbie dolls stashed away somewhere.
He’ll pick a dirty socialist one what Daddy Soros thinks will kick this little country in the nuts and droopy diseased Arlen’s bald little pecker will stand up and salute you just watch Lindsey watch.
An ethnic minority lesbian woman. With a physical handicap. And questionable citizenship.
Dude that would be like perfect.
Alito looks forward to not having to get up to answer the door during conference. Other’n that, some relatively young leftist begins a 35 yr career cleverly ignoring the written document.
Heh.
Should we slow down some so you can catch up?
See, this is what I find confusing. Is meya misleading when she speaks of who nominated whom, ignoring their voting habit? Or is she simple, and can’t figure out the difference?
Even if being intentionally misleading, wouldn’t she craft that statement in a way that would fool adults?
I’m not fully in SBP’s camp yet. Meya might just be dumb.
I agree, meya, that’s why Obama should nominate Bork. Then we’ll both be happy.
Just guessing, but I’d be looking for Obama to cash in on the female Polynesian vote with this nomination.
“I agree, meya, that’s why Obama should nominate Bork. Then we’ll both be happy.”
Joe Biden can say and do whatever he wants now. He accomplished his service for the country back then.
Though, y’know, he could go after the muzzies too, still some work to do there he told the Turks.
So Meya,
Do you think the Constitution is “living”? And if so, is it a baby, an adolescent, legally drinking, in the midst of a mid-life crisis, or just about comatose?
Personally, I think it’s nearly dead since your President has just about killed it.
This is looking like a no-brainer.
It is awful nice of J. Souter to wait to retire until the son of the man that put him on the court has left office, don’tcha think? It’s a kindly way to pay back all those years of suffering J Souter has had to do.
Bork or Bjork?
Bjork, heh, I’d love to read those dissents. That would be a strong, strong argument for cameras in the courtroom. Imagine the interpretive dance, the wacky costumes.
Not proven! Scottish law is quite clear.
This, however, has proven invaluable to accentuate my cheek muscles, particularly when I am hunched over a microphone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBRjChJpISE
I think you should get “unrepentant Nazi” in there somewhere every time.
“Daddy Soros unrepentant Nazi” has a nice Mickey Spillane business card rhythm to it, but “unrepentant Nazi Daddy Soros” has “Nazi Daddy,” which is the point.
He should nominate Limbaugh. Gets him off the air, and eliminates the “Head of the Republican Party”. A two for one shot.
Barack will appoint a skeezey socialist what is protected from being called on it by race and gender. That’s how Daddy Soros what is an unrepentant Nazi likes to roll. It’s Nazi Daddy’s world and the U.S. president just gets to lick his toes I think. When he’s been good and daddy is pleased I mean.
ok now I can’t get that scene from Blue Velvet out of my head
Lindsay Graham is the weak link, but no where near as leak as Specter. We are still better off.
Wind sprints.
Think ear, it helps.
An ear reminds me of Steeler’s Wheel.
Sometimes I’ve got to think that if these people were even marginally intelligent we’d all be screwed.
If they were marginally intelligent they wouldn’t be who they are. It’s self limiting to an extent, over the long run. Too bad that can be too long a run.
don’t forget the pencil-thin mustache. She’s got to have a Django ‘stache or she can’t be totally authentic.
In the long run we’re all dead.. Or at least that’s the way it used to work. You’ll have to consult Aubrey de Grey..
Meya Think- Because Biden lied and slandered the brightest nominee to the court in the 20th century; he now has a right to be a retarded dumbass with nary a clue about anything. Makes perfect sense.
Freudian slip? Because Specter is a big “leaker”
An ethnic minority lesbian woman. With a physical handicap. And questionable citizenship.
Michelle?
I’m guessing Michelle’s physical handicap is Baracky.
Last I checked they hadn’t reorganized the committee seats — Specter wants some seniority over on the dem sid
Yea, this should be worth some popcorn. Specter was told that he could keep his seniority. Heh. He wants to simply move all his toys over to the other side of the isle.
I admire the desire to see the silver lining in the cloud, but good luck turning this one into anything you can hawk at the pawn shop. Souter will get replaced by someone more liberal, and all the huffing and puffing of Jon Kyl and others will accomplish nothing other than to create more opportunities to display them as hypocrites for opposing filibusters then and using them now. No one gets those great then-and-now news footage montages when they’re on the majority side, since the noteworthy hysterical rants are only fun to bring back when the weasely behavior is current. This is an MSNBC/Daily Show ratings blockbuster in the making, not a Republican win of even the most modest Machiavellian/Pyrrhic hybrid sort.
Mr. Immelt! We had 36 viewers last night! Can I have a raise?
Local news buzz: Jenny Granholm for Supreme Court!
She is “on” the list. Paul W. Smith is asking her about it right now. She’s the “sleeper” candidate. If offered, will you take it?
This talk is distracting. She’s going to finish her term. (paraphrased)
“This is looking like a no-brainer.”
Hey, I’m mostly Irish, not a ‘Rican!
Three words: Janice Rogers Brown. That way everybody is happy.
That Constitution, it be more like … “guidelines.”
Joe biden for SC !!
All of Biden’s opinions would be in crayon.
I think you may be on to something, Matt. This way the Administration gets to get Joe away from the public eye – and whilst he would be a reliable Leftie vote, the other Justices could rightly ignore him when he spoke…
The relevant fact isn’t that a liberal will be replaced by a liberal — it’s that an old liberal will be replaced by a young one. Soon to be followed by Ginsberg and Stevens. Possibly Breyer and “swing vote” Kennedy. Especially if Brack gets a second term. The nightmare scenario is that either another Dem succeeds Brack or one of the conservatives trips and falls down a flight of marble stairs.
“Yea, this should be worth some popcorn. Specter was told that he could keep his seniority. Heh. He wants to simply move all his toys over to the other side of the isle.”
If the dem leadership acted in typical fashion, they negotiated away their strength to a guy that needed them more than they need him.
Meya: That’s a pretty insightful comment and I agree.
If you’ve read through the threads you know that I live in PA and have despised Spector for many years. He is an arrogant camera hog who looks for the most arcane issues to get himself face time when he’s not beating issues into the ground.
I think he relishes the “rebel” meme and probably figures that the Dems will support him for that Senate seat no matter what he does. It would be in his nature to act the contrarian regardless of any potential consequences real or perceived.
All I can say is “Let the games begin”.
If by game you mean finding someone who can subvert the original intent of the Constitution and think it is ok to cite foreign law then you are correct sir. Also see “evolving standards of decency”.
The whole debate over the “living Constitution” is nonsense. It’s story-time, fantasy, abstract, purely-metaphorical bullshit. It’s like debating over whether Batman can beat up Superman. It has no connection to reality.
The entire statist, Left-wing ideology is nothing but an elaborate system of pseudo-moral justification. In concrete, unvarnished REALITY, it boils down to five people pretending they have the power to dictate what other people will and won’t do.
The idea that a judge can “interpret” a text (which created their judgeship in the first place) to mean something other than what it originally meant is so stupid, so silly, it’s just pathetic. It’s funny in its wrongness. It’s like watching a 5 year-old trying to explain how bed-time rules don’t apply to him because he’s a super-hero — he invents one farcical, imaginary excuse after another in an endless parade of post-hoc rationalizations.
All the jurisprudential theories, interpretive methodologies and “scholarly” masturbation is a pretext for what amounts to your basic, plain-Jane power grab. They might as well put paper Burger King crowns on their heads and call themselves the Emperors of the Universe. The paper crowns would have as much legitimacy and connection to the real world.
Of course, this kind of self-rationalization circle-jerk only works when people buy into the whole charade. I’d like to find a way to sneak into the august, hushed ceremony they call “oral argument” so I can make fart sounds with my armpits. That’s what these pretentious assholes deserve — a bunch of stinky, wet farts. This “court” has no authority. No sane, self-respecting person should care what they say.
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Thanks Phinn you made me spill my coffee chuckling at that one.
Well done, Phinn!
[…] Now that Souter is retiring? Naturally, a woman. Preferably, a minority. Obviously, not a Catholic. Hmmmmmm. […]
Arlen’s got a lot of greif coming his way. Sure, the Donks are all lovey-dovey now, but once the media rush is over, expect him to be treated like the treacherous little weasel he is. I mean, what’s he gonna do, become an Independent? Rejoin the Republicans?
Yeah, that’ll work. What a putz.
I Wish I Had A Pencil-Thin Mustache…
Good-bye Justice Souter, Hello Justice “Bolshevik”…
Yeah the titles a little over the top, but what do you expect from this cesspool of right wing ideology? I don’t have anything profound to add that isn’t better covered by the smart folk at the SCOTUS blog.
It is pure speculation to say w…