Lest we forget--BIG thanks to Justice David Souter

[DFW]

For a while now, has made no secret of his desire to get out of Washington and return to New Hampshire.

Most of us expected the nearly-90-year-old John Paul Stevens or the ailing Ruth Bader-Ginsburg to
retire first, and the same sentiment of gratitude goes to them as well, but Souter was first so,
this is for him.

He "held on" until the evil (can't put it any other way) team that installed Roberts and Alito onto
the Court was gone, so that his replacement would be chosen by people with knowledge and respect of
the Constitution and the law. Anyone who chose Roberts and Alito obviously had neither, not to mention
that the nomination of Clarence Thomas was one of the most destructive, cynical acts ever foisted
upon the American judiciary.

Souter's decision to stay on was one of sacrifice--he suborned his personal desires for the better good
of the country. This can hardly be said of the Cheneybush gang, whose choice of jurists was based on
blatant ideology--ironically enough, exactly that of which they are so quick to accuse us.

So, thank you, Justice Souter. In turn, we, the American electorate, accept your thanks for facilitating
your decision. Somehow, I don't think President Obama will make you regret it.

[babylonsister]

1. Please. I read today if McCain had won, he still might have retired.

He's no saint.

http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2009/05/souters-timing-strategic-or-not.html

Souter's Timing: Was it Age or Politics?

The Atlantic's political blog is reporting here that a day after he announced his impending retirement May 1, Justice David Souter spoke at an Oxford University alumni luncheon in D.C. along with Justice Stephen Breyer. After the talk, blogger Jeannette Lee asked Souter if he would have retired now if Republican candidate John McCain had been elected last November instead of Barack Obama.
"Probably," was Souter's reported answer. He added that he was nearing 70 years old, and had watched other justices wait to leave until their 80s, when "they have nothing left to retire to. I didn't want that to be me."

With that answer, Souter does not directly refute commentary suggesting that as a justice increasingly identified as a liberal, Souter waited to retire, for political or strategic reasons, until a President more to his liking than George W. Bush would be in a position to replace him. His comment may mean that if McCain had been elected, Souter might have left because he would not want to stay four more years for reasons of age -- not necessarily that he would have been equally happy for McCain to replace him. The late chief justice William Rehnquist, once asked whether justices time their retirements based on who is in the White House, said "it certainly is true in more cases than not."

Artemus Ward, a Northern Illinois University political scientist who wrote a 2003 book on why justices retire, thinks Souter's implicit denial of political motives is unsurprising, but needs to be taken with a grain of salt. "You would expect him to say that," says Ward.

Age is certainly a factor, Ward says, but the evidence points to Souter as "a prime example" of justices who time their retirements for strategic reasons, both political and institutional. Ward notes that under the federal "Rule of 80" for qualifying for full retirement pay, Souter could have retired anytime after May 2005. Retirement would have been unlikely in 2008 for institutional reasons -- justices don't like to retire in presidential election years to keep the Court from being a hot campaign issue. "So why didn't he retire in 2007?" Ward asks. The answer, he suggests, is that Bush was president then, and in a position to "undo Souter's legacy" by replacing him with a conservative nominee.

UPDATE: Some of the above item was changed to more accurately characterize the possible meaning of Souter's comment.

[DFW]

2. I still say that Souter would have retired before now under an enlightened president

He had wanted to leave for a while. It looks to me like nothing would have made him leave until Cheneybush
was out of there. Rehnquist was right in this case, I think. Marshall and O'Connor retired for reasons that
could not wait, in their eyes (Marshall for health, and indeed, he died soon after retiring).

[Laelth]

3. Hear, hear. Much gratitude. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[GardeningGal]

4. A big K&R.

Thanks to Souter for not retiring under the shrubs term. Thank you very much for waiting.