Souter Retiring:
NBC News is reporting that Justice David Souter is, in fact, planning to retire, either at the end of this term or when his successor is confirmed.
UPDATE: More from the AP:
Justice David Souter has told the White House that he will retire from the Supreme Court at the end of the court's term in June, a source familiar with his plans said Thursday night.The source spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak for Souter. . . .
National Public Radio reported that Souter will remain on the bench until a successor is confirmed.
The Supreme Court declined to comment on the report.
SECOND UPDATE: From the NYT:
Two friends of Justice Souter, 69, said Thursday night that he had often spoken privately of his intentions to be the court's first retirement if Mr. Obama won the election last fall. He has told friends that he looked forward to returning to his native New Hampshire while he was still able to enjoy climbing mountains and other outdoor activities.
Arlen Sneaky Plan
Not until every vote is counted!
The world record high jumper?
A man can dream.
Sotomayor might fit the bill.
So what's the shortlist VC bloggers?
Kagan/Wood/Sotomayor/Strossen/Hillary?
I think Randy and Orin should declare themselves eligible for nomination too, kind of like the draft.
That's hallucination.
I just Cartmanesquely shot milk out my nose w/o even drinking any!
James Madison or George Washington would be great. But somehow I don't see a a Democrat controlled judiciary ever approving them in the 21st century.
Indeed, the rigor mortis would make for awkward oral arguments.
- Does Souter wait until the end of the term to make it official? The lack of clerks is obviously a big sign, and NPR must have heard something concrete from someone to break the story, but I could see Souter holding back the formal announcement for tradition's sake.
- On a related point, how long does Obama wait to name a successor? Does he wait until there are 60 Dems in the Senate, or does he try to at least get the ball rolling before then?
- What happens to the Judiciary Committee now that Specter has flipped? When does the GOP get a new ranking member and what could the minority members do to potentially block a nominee?
- How liberal does Obama go with the replacement? Straight up ideologue or someone that will get at least some, if not many, Republican votes? He's probably popular enough and he likely has the votes to get anyone he wants right now, but he may not want to spend the political capital necessary to get a controversial nominee through.
It should be an interesting Friday...
The Republicans would filibuster them because they were anti-torture.
They'd still ask more questions than Justice Thomas.
Roberts can claim they are just snoozing.
It's been done, but the nano-battery technology to power the micro-pump still leaves much to be desired.
No, why? Thinking about trying it?
And here's a link to go along with that. In case anyone was confused.
How charming. For nineteen years he got to be on the highest tribunal of Constitutional interpretation courtesy of a Republican president, but he doesn't want to retire unless a Democrat is in office. Even a moderate Republican like McCain facing a Democrat-dominated Senate isn't good enough. So much for being a non-partisan Justice.
If you have a comment about spelling, typos, or format errors, please e-mail the poster directly rather than posting a comment.
Comment Policy: We reserve the right to edit or delete comments, and in extreme cases to ban commenters, at our discretion. Comments must be relevant and civil (and, especially, free of name-calling). We think of comment threads like dinner parties at our homes. If you make the party unpleasant for us or for others, we'd rather you went elsewhere. We're happy to see a wide range of viewpoints, but we want all of them to be expressed as politely as possible.
We realize that such a comment policy can never be evenly enforced, because we can't possibly monitor every comment equally well. Hundreds of comments are posted every day here, and we don't read them all. Those we read, we read with different degrees of attention, and in different moods. We try to be fair, but we make no promises.
And remember, it's a big Internet. If you think we were mistaken in removing your post (or, in extreme cases, in removing you) -- or if you prefer a more free-for-all approach -- there are surely plenty of ways you can still get your views out.