BREAKING NEWS: Justice David Souter plans to retire from Supreme Court, NBC/NPR reports

[spanone]

BREAKING NEWS
NBC News and news services
updated 6 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Supreme Court Justice David Souter plans to retire, sources told NBC News Thursday night.

Speculation about Souter's plans began to swirl as the eight other justices were known to have hired the four law clerks who will work with them in the Supreme Court term that begins in October. Souter has been the lone holdout, hiring no one.

A retirement by Souter, 69, would give President Barack Obama his first chance to nominate a justice and the next few months would bring Senate confirmation hearings.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30508968/

here's more


Supreme Court Justice Souter To Retire

NPR has learned that Supreme Court Justice David Souter is planning to retire at the end of the court's current term. Souter is expected to remain on the bench until a successor has been chosen and confirmed, which may or may not be accomplished before the court reconvenes in October. Souter's retirement would give President Obama his first appointment to the high court.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103694193

[jaysunb]

1. New chance for repubs to show the world who they are.

Wish it had been Kennedy but this will help in many other ways.

[spanone]

3. now President Obama can really started undoing the bu$hit

[rpannier]

6. Souter's probably not the place to start

He's had a fairly liberal voting record while on the bench

[spanone]

10. i'm glad Obama will get to appoint a justice so early in his presidency

wish it were a conservative

unfortunately the pug appointees are all rather young compared to the libs

[Dogmudgeon]

2. We're going to need LOTS of popcorn around here

Get the wholesaler on the phone!

:popcorn:

--d!

[greenbriar]

4. what is souters record?

not really sure

[Bluerthanblue]

8. the right hates him- he is poppy bush's blunder-

personally I think he's been a good addition.

I'm disapointed to hear he's leaving.

:shrug:

[jobycom]

9. He's a liberal now, was appointed by Bush Daddy as a conservative.

He slowly moved to the left over time, and by 2000 was really the leader on the Court, I think. He opposed abortion when he was appointed, but has always voted to protect choice. He was one of dissenters in Bush v Gore, and he has heavily criticized the Republican faction on the Court for that ruling. He swears he had almost persuaded Kennedy to vote with him before he ran out of time, so we may have come THAT close to not having Bush as president.

The Court right now is 4-4-1. The four conservatives--Alito, Roberts, Thomas, Scalia--and the four liberals--Ginsberg, Stevens, Souter, Breyer--usually cancel each other out, and Kennedy is the deciding vote. Kennedy votes either way, seemingly at random. Some think he just likes the attention he gets by being unpredictable, more than having any real beliefs.

I like Souter. He's a pragmatic, intelligent Justice. Funny thing is, when he was appointed he was as hated as Roberts and Alito, and was voted against by Ted Kennedy and Kerry, who predicted he'd be a right wing nut. You never know--some of the best liberal Justices were appointed to be conservatives.

[Ioo]

5. he usually votes with the more liberal wing on the Roberts court.

[MichiganVote]

7. Good start but time to replace the rest of the old war horse liberals too.

[Toucano]

16. What do you have against war horse liberals? n-t

[jobycom]

11. He wanted to resign after the Court's travesty decision in Bush v Gore.

He has always believed in the legal process over the political one, and thought of the SCOTUS as above politics. Bush v Gore angered him and disgusted him with its pure political decision, and its lack of even pretending to be a judicial decision. He almost resigned in protest, but was talked out of it, and reportedly still is angry about it.

Funny thing is, it apparently still bothers Scalia, too, who constantly brings it up without reason, as though he is trying to convince others or himself that it was the right decision. "The Telltale Heart," as it were.

We're going to miss Souter. Not just his vote, and not just his experience, but his pure apolitical integrity. When he took office he was opposed to abortion and was considered, like Roberts and Alito, one of THEIR votes. But he supported choice in his decisions, as he pointed out, because there was no justification for political pressure to influence a judicial decision, and he saw no judicial grounds for overturning Roe.

If we had 9 like him on the Court, I'd be satisfied no matter which way they ruled.

[JaneQPublic]

14. Interesting. I wonder if he'll write a book. (nt)

[jaysunb]

15. Good post !

:thumbs:

[Lyric]

12. Oh god.

Please, please, PLEASE, Obama...replace him with a LIBERAL, not an effing "moderate." We need a firebrand, not a milquetoast. PLEASE do not cave in to "bipartisanship" on this one. People's lives and liberties depend on it.

As a gay American, I am shaking in my boots over this.

:(

[WI_DEM]

13. Despite being selected by Poppy, Souter turned out to be a good Justice.

[Sheets of Easter]

17. Too bad it couldn't have been Scalia or Thomas.