Where Everybody Knows You're Numb

You know? I'm actually a little surprised Souter is the first to retire. It's no secret he hates being in DC, but even so, he's only sixty nine, which is the mean age of theUS Supreme Court, in good health, and with other justices being both older and in NOT great health, I would have thought that he'd at least waited to have seen how Obama would have done replacing one of them first, before stepping down.

It's funny how selfish we can be about these things, isn't it?  Sometimes, we forget that these people are also simply "people" with lives of their own outside the court. A person 69 years old "should" be able to retire if they so choose, without any flack. Even so ... you hate to see the "good" ones go.

Nightowlhoot3 wrote:

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Just heard David Souter has announced he's retiring at the end of this term in June.

Okay, Obama ... do the right thing the first time out of the shoot, and set the correct precedent for yourself.  

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another strong contender .......

Sonia Sotomayor is reportedly on Barack Obamas short-list for the Supreme Court. If nominated and confirmed, she would be the first Hispanic person to serve as a Supreme Court justice.

 

Sonia Sotomayor was born on June 25, 1954 in New York City. She was raised in the South Bronx by working class parents and is of Puerto Rican descent.

Despite her working class background, she attended Princeton University and graduated summa cum laude in 1976. With her stellar credentials, she had her pick of law schools to attend and chose to go to Yale Law School, where she was an editor of the Yale Law Journal. Upon graduation in 1979, she worked as an Assistant District Attorney in New York County. Then, she moved on to private practice, working several years for the law firm Pavia & Harcourt. She married while at Princeton, but divorced in 1983.

In 1991, Sotomayor was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. She was the first Hispanic federal judge in New York. She was confirmed by the Senate in 1992.

In 1997, she was nominated by President Bill Clinton to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and confirmed by the Senate in 1998. She still holds that position today.

For much of her career, she was considered a moderate, hence her appointments by both a Republican and Democratic President. Today, conservatives tend to view her as a judicial activist and a liberal.

She has been named by numerous media outlets, including CNN and Esquire Magazine, as a virtual shoe-in for nomination to the Supreme Court upon the retirement of one of several aging Supreme Court justices (John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and possibly several others).

Sotomayors appointment seems to make sense for Barack Obama. She would be a liberal, pro-choice justice who would maintain the judicial majority that opposes the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Further, by nominating a Hispanic woman, Obama would potentially gain standing within the Hispanic communities.

Since Obama will likely appoint two if not three Supreme Court justices over the next four years, and has Democratic majorities in the House and Senate to confirm them, conservatives hoping to overturn Roe v. Wade likely have a VERY LONG wait ahead of them.

Sonia Sotomayor: Obamas First Supreme Court Appointment? » Right Pundits

 

-- Edited by nesea on Friday 1st of May 2009 06:17:47 AM

Nightowlhoot3 wrote:

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Just heard David Souter has announced he's retiring at the end of this term in June.

Okay, Obama ... do the right thing the first time out of the shoot, and set the correct precedent for yourself.

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souter has had an interesting journey.  most people get more conservative as they age. he seems to have gone in the other direction. who do you think would be a good appointment for this position?