Suggestion

7:31 pm EST November 5th, 2008 | News | 10 Comments

Justice Scalia, Justice Thomas… feel like retiring? Perhaps now would be a good time to step down from the bench. Especially Justice Scalia – you’ve been there a long time. Time for some rest, no?

Pretty please?

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10 Responses to “Suggestion”

  1. Parthenon says:
    November 5, 2008 at 7:48 pm

    Not unless his health forces him out would he let that happen.

  2. Mike says:
    November 5, 2008 at 8:37 pm

    Don’t you think if Scalia retired or died that Thomas
    would do exactly the same out of reflex.

  3. PG says:
    November 5, 2008 at 8:55 pm

    I haven’t seen Thomas since 2004, nor Scalia since 2006, but both of them looked fine then and I haven’t heard of their having any health problems. Scalia seems to have the kind of constitution that permits smoking cigars and living on carbs without much effect on his health.

    Stevens definitely is going to step down; his wife isn’t well and he told a reporter that he had a specific date in mind on which to leave, which I’m betting will be soon after Obama’s inauguration.

    Ginsburg would have been one I thought also would be stepping down. She looks and sounds somewhat frail, has had significant health problems and fell asleep during oral argument two years ago. But when she spoke at an event a couple weeks ago, she said she was planning to stay at the Court to the same age as Brandeis, i.e. until she’s 83, which would be another 8 years. Sadly, I’m not sure her health will permit that, and I also wouldn’t want to risk that and would prefer that she step down toward the end of Obama’s first term to ensure that he appoints her replacement. But she certainly doesn’t seem to be planning to leave ASAP like Stevens, and has picked clerks going out to the 2012 October term.

    Breyer and Souter both seem to be in good shape, ditto Kennedy, Alito and Roberts. I think the only exit we’ll see in the short term is Stevens.

  4. PG says:
    November 5, 2008 at 8:56 pm

    Oops, that should be 2010, not 2012 — 2012 clerks haven’t even started law school!

  5. Duros 62 says:
    November 5, 2008 at 9:20 pm

    Paging Matt Yglesias. Matt Yglesias, courtesy phone, please.

  6. Thad says:
    November 6, 2008 at 1:00 am

    Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm is allegedly on Obama’s SCOTUS short list, and I’m less than thrilled about that; she’s pushed anti-video game legislation that was ruled unconstitutional. I think we’ve got enough people on the Court who don’t put much stock in the First Amendment as it is.

  7. Duros Hussein 62 says:
    November 6, 2008 at 11:10 am

    Paging Matt Yglesias. Matt Yglesias, courtesy phone, please.

    Faux pas.

    David Iglesias. Not Matt. Don’t know how qualified a blooger would be for the SCOTUS.

    I apologize for any inconvenience.

  8. cdp says:
    November 6, 2008 at 1:49 pm

    Not till January 21…

  9. PG says:
    November 6, 2008 at 2:10 pm

    Duros,

    Ah, OK, that makes a lot more sense. As for the qualifications of a blogger for SCOTUS, depends on which blogger. Cass Sunstein wouldn’t be bad, though realistically I think Obama should follow successful tradition and pick judges from the federal appellate or state supreme court benches. Obviously Sunstein is a lot brighter than Harriet Miers, but it’s still good to have had some minor league judicial experience before going to the dance.

    I’d consider someone off the Federal Circuit and someone off the Delaware Supreme Court — one person with expertise in trade, antitrust, bureaucratic law, etc., and one person with a solid grounding in corporate law. As Michael Dorf says, everyone’s got their specialty PLUS constitutional law, so picking textbook writers like Kathleen Sullivan doesn’t actually contribute much.

    If Obama really wants to appeal across the aisle and also wants another woman on the court, he could go for Debra Livingston — a Bush II appointee to the 2nd Circuit, but actually fairly politically liberal except with regard to criminal law. The Republicans couldn’t block her because they all approved her for the appellate seat.

  10. Duros 62 says:
    November 6, 2008 at 2:37 pm

    As for the qualifications of a blogger for SCOTUS, depends on which blogger.

    Well, yeah.

    he could go for Debra Livingston — a Bush II appointee to the 2nd

    I like your style.