April 9, 2010

Justice Stevens Retiring (4 years too late)

Supreme Court Justice Stevens, aged about 734 (almost 90 actually), announced his impending retirement from the Supreme Court. Born in Chicago and having possessed an initially somewhat conservative judicial record, he was appointed to the Supreme Court by Gerald Ford in 1975. However he clearly drifted leftward and a statistical analysis in 2003 ranked him as the most liberal member of the Supreme Court - even more liberal than Justice Ginsberg.  



Whatever the reason for the drift leftward, it is clear that Justice Stevens wanted to retire during a Democratic Presidency so he could be replaced by another liberal justice.  How else can his retirement at age 90 be explained? Who waits until 90 to retire? He could have retired on Clinton's watch at 79 or 80 and had that possibility occur.  But he didn't. Then he had to wait it out for his next opportunity.  And he certainly could not have retired on Bush's watch, given the scathing and bitterly partisan interpretation he had in his dissenting opinion on Bush v. Gore in 2000. He had to wait it out.  Now with a very liberal presidency underway, he must consider it safe to retire.

But with a filibuster level in the Senate, and with the Goodwin Liu issue in full swing, the GOP should afford the President no easy passage of either candidate for either post.  In fact, if ever there was a need to be obstructionist, it is the Liu case.  If ever there were a reason to be bitterly partisan, it is with respect to the appointment of Justices in recollection of how Bush nominees were never given a floor vote.  Liberal judicial appointees deserve no quarter after the despicable treatment Republican appointees have received all the way back to the Robert Bork nomination by Ronald Reagan.  No Quarter expected, no quarter given.

Justice Sotomayor was a cakewalk for Obama but that was several job approval points ago. No more.  The Republicans must fight the latest nomination of Liu, and the no doubt soon to be announced liberal Stevens replacement, with a shall we say, robust, effort.

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