A day after receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, retired
Justice John Paul Stevens on Wednesday night backed President Barack
Obama's suggestion during his 2010 State of the Union address that the Citizens United decision could lead to "foreign entities" bankrolling American elections.
He urged the U.S. Supreme Court to explicitly explain why the president's words were "not true,"
as Justice Samuel Alito famously mouthed on camera, breaking the
justices' usual stoic appearance during the president's annual speech.
Stevens has been a trenchant critic of Citizens United since the
court decided the case in January 2010. On the day the opinion was
announced, he spent 20 minutes reading from the bench a summary of his
90-page dissent. Stumbling over some words that day convinced Stevens,
now 92, to retire, but he continued to condemn the ruling in speeches,
writings and even on the Colbert Report.
Read on...
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Showing posts with label Justice John Paul Stevens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Justice John Paul Stevens. Show all posts
Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens retiring
WASHINGTON – Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, the court's oldest member and leader of its liberal bloc, is retiring. President Barack Obama now has his second high court opening to fill.
Stevens said Friday he will step down when the court finishes its work for the summer in late June or early July. He said he hopes his successor is confirmed "well in advance of the commencement of the court's next term."
The timing of Stevens' announcement leaves ample time for the White House to settle on a successor and for Senate Democrats, who control a 59-vote majority, to conduct confirmation hearings and a vote before the court's next term begins in October. Republicans have not ruled out an attempt to delay confirmation.
A Justice Slows His Hiring, and Some Wonder About His Future
By ADAM LIPTAK
Published: September 2, 2009
WASHINGTON — A Supreme Court clerkship is a glittering prize and the ultimate credential in American law, one coveted by the top graduates of the best law schools. Until recently, though, only connoisseurs of ambition and status followed the justices’ hiring process closely.It turns out those hiring decisions may be a sort of early warning system for hints about the justices’ retirement plans. “We’ve started tracking Supreme Court hiring in real time,” said David Lat, the founder of Above the Law, a legal blog.
Justice David H. Souter’s failure to hire clerks this spring accurately signaled his decision to step down. On Wednesday, the court confirmed that Justice John Paul Stevens, who is 89, has hired only one clerk, instead of the usual four, for the term starting in October 2010. That ignited speculation that Justice Stevens may be planning to step down next summer.Read on...
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